Desperate for a fight or a grope, he doesn’t care which, Les’ misunderstandings and observations make him a very funny fall guy. As Judd he lacks the menace of bulk but makes up for it admirably with sleaziness.įalstaff Dowling-Mitchell adds to the confusion and comedy with his core Bouncer role as Les. Nick Wilkinson directs the show impressively with fine attention to the many transitions of role, and placement of person to cover the many scenes and personalities without confusion. It’s a beautiful performance of this character, but equally well matched by Artis’ range of other parts and skill with accents – especially the Swedish porn star impression. Weary, jaded, especially now that his wife has left him, he struggles to retain his position as leader of the pack. It’s very funny, pacy and slick and though not all perfectly rendering the accents, they deliver the highly detailed and demanding script with great assurance.ĭavid Artis as Lucky Eric gets to give several serious speeches about the world of the bouncer. It’s not pretty but it has a desperate sense of honesty, vigour and comedy.Ĭartel Theatre – comprising four well known Waikato performers, particularly of music theatre – has created a winning production here. Then there’s vomiting, bad breath, toilets and eating, sometimes combined with sex or sex combined with any of the above. There’s drinking – endless rounds of it – much shouting, dancing and music. There’s hope that each will get lucky and pull, score even grope someone tonight. There’s preparation – at the hairdressers the girls planning their night – then Bouncers running through the routine while a bunch of workmen josh each other into the mood.
Revealing some of the realities of nights standing out in the cold and dealing with the dregs of night life, the four bouncers each take on many parts – as punters, punks, hairdressers, losers, boys, and girls, barely legal, hardly dressed – in a whirl of interactions all leading to one night out at the club. He uses almost Brechtian techniques of characters narrating their own actions, while referring to themselves in the third person.
Portable, with minimal set but with good actors and a proper technician, it can take the audience on a ride of energy and adrenaline, with glimpses of seedy pick –ups, desperate dollies and totalled tosspots interspersed with tongue in cheek social commentary. One of the best known and most often performed of Godber’s plays or adaptations, it’s easy to understand its sustained popularity. Even the resident roof rat was too afraid to show its face after Judd, the mouthiest of the four, alluded to what sexual act he might consider performing on a rat if it crossed his path. John Godber’s quartet for four actors in the guise of Bouncers at a northern English night club certainly rocks the hanging baskets in its staid Victorian Conservatory venue.
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