Reviewed by Anthony & Tammy Wildblood
We put our name down to do the review of the Full Monty which felt like ages ago, so when the night came on the 19th November, we set off on a nice drive through the countryside as we are from Ripley, Derbyshire feeling rather excited for the performance ahead. We arrived in Stoke and parked literally around the corner from the theatre which cost us £2 to park all night which is a bonus as some places can cost a whole lot more. As we arrived in Stoke, a good one hour and 30 minutes early, we decided to go for a bite to eat and found ourselves in a nice little Indian restaurant called Zazaz which is just opposite the theatre and if you order before 6.30pm you can have two courses for £12.95, which for a Indian is really good and the food is fantastic too, we shall be phoning next time to book ahead so our food is ready for when we arrive which is an added bonus, the food is generous and delicious.
We arrived at theatre ready for the show and the theatre staff was giving out pin badges for the performance with the following on them, 1. Full Monty, 2. I like Cock, 3. Hung Like a Horse which later on in the performance you will realise that this is not the case and is the case! You’ll be surprised just how these pin badges get people all excited for something so big, great added touch from the production team I think, and Tammy had to take the badge hung like a horse just because she loves it!
Now for someone who loves films and loved The Full Monty when is first came out in 1997 I was very interested to see how this would be portrayed onto the stage. I think a lot of people in the audience were expecting it to be a strip show and seeing a lot of men get naked, they obviously haven’t seen the film or knew what the film was about, because the film is all about the unemployed and British politics back then in the 90’s and how people dealt with it back then and issues that came with it, from family problems to losing houses and even marriage problems and this was portrayed onto the stage superbly well and executed well, so well done to the production team on doing that. What I found very well done was that every time the stage setting changed, they played music from the era of the 90’s and they got all the music to the scene change perfectly right to what was going on throughout the performance. Perfect music to the perfect setting. To say the stage was set out in a steel factory, you couldn’t tell this with every change of scene from the job centre to the Conservative Club it was just perfect smooth transactions.
Gary Lucy – Gaz, opened the performance which we felt was a little slow and couldn’t hardly hear him but I think that was down to him having mic issues and the sound not being right, it felt sometimes he was saying words a little too fast and couldn’t hear them either, but I think that is because of the accent that he was trying to pull off, for me he wasn’t the star of the show but overall gave a very good performance. His bond between him and his son Nathan was there to be seen it felt at times that they were actually father and son you were just brought into the moment and at times you just felt you never want to be in that situation with your own child, that’s how strong the performance was when they were on their own together on stage. 9/10 for an all-round performance.
Kai Owen – Dave, Oh my god, star performer on the night, his acting was second to none, the moment he opened his mouth, he had you loving him from the start, he just brought sheer comedy to his lines made the part his own and if they keep this stage production of The Full Monty going then I got to say he has to stay playing Dave cause he is one funny guy! He brought the stage alive, his stage presence was just superb, you just wanted more from him and with everyone who wanted to see Gary Lucy play in this play, soon came around and started loving Kai Owen more and more as the play went on well they did who was sitting around us anyway, he made you feel for him, he made you laugh with him and when he was saying things about himself which you would expect to be nasty, he just made you laugh with him rather than at him. I could watch him again in any performance that’s how good he was. 10/10 Star Performance on the night sheer brilliance. You Fat B*****D.
Fraser Kelly – Nathan, good all-round performance from Fraser, he played the role of the son very well and sometimes it felt he was experiencing the problems that his character was going through at the time, that’s how strong he acted at times. Facial expressions, body language, just everything really, he was that good at. 9/10
Andrew Dunn – Gerald, now from watching Andrew play in the TV show Dinnerladies, which was a comedy and was funny, we felt at times he let himself down as his character, it could have been more funny at times and it wasn’t, it lacked conviction and felt he didn’t feel comfortable on stage at times, now that could be down to the character he’s playing or how the production team wanted him to be played but every other single character made it their own and brought comedy to them, don’t get me wrong at times he made you laugh but at the same time it didn’t last long, needs to believe in the character and let himself go for it and then he will bring more life to him. 7/10
Louis Emerick – Horse, hung like a horse or is he that’s the question? or as Dave puts it, a Shetland Pony! which had us all in stitches. Louis has been playing Horse now for many years and this could tell we haven’t got a clue what his other performances have been like throughout the years, he has been playing the role we can only go on what we saw last night, and oh my word he played the role to a tee, he interacted with the audience, made us laugh, his dancing was good, yet silly, now this is someone who has studied his character and made it his own, he’s put his stamp on it which I don’t think anyone else can do its sheer brilliance acting all round. You could just watch him act all day and you wouldn’t be disappointed. 9/10 You’re a Shetland pony in the C**K department.
Joe Gill – Lomper, Joe plays this role of a shy timid young security guard who turns out to be gay after seeing Guy turn up for the group, Now this you wouldn’t have noticed gasping for air, as the one scene was very moving and looked ever so real, a guy who was trying to kill himself by hanging himself off the steel crane, that scene is very moving and you thought oh my god someone get him down quick that’s what I was thinking anyway. Then after that part, the three guys Gaz, Dave and Lomper made light work of it and turned it round into comedy which made you all of a sudden forget about the hanging. Joe simply played the shy gay timid lad, simply brilliant. 9/10
James Redmond – Guy, had a small role in the play but you wouldn’t have guessed it on how he played the character, you felt he was there most of the time, he played the gay character well and made the audience laugh at times. Good solid all round performance. 9/10
This is must see show and I would highly recommend it, no problem at all. Excuse the pun but they got the balls, they had the balls, it was balls, fantastic! All you gentleman out there, take your ladies, as trust us, you will enjoy it too!
Rating: 5/5
Tickets cost from £3.40 to £33.65 (plus £3.65 transaction fee).
The Full Monty is at the Regent Theatre in Stoke from 19-24 November 2018, for more information or to book tickets visit www.atgtickets.com/regent-theatre or call the box office on 0844 871 7649.
Regent Theatre, Piccadilly, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, ST1 1AP | 0844 871 7649
