The Full Monty,Theatre Royal Nottingham Review
DISCLOSURE – TICKETS TO SEE THE SHOW WERE GIFTED TO THE REVIEWER AND GUEST FOR THE PURPOSES OF WRITING THE REVIEW
Reviewed by Deborah Lowndes
My friend and I were super excited to be invited to review The Full Monty at Nottingham Theatre Royal. We both had visions of a great night in a theatre full of excited screaming ladies waiting for the striptease to commence. Well we definitely were not disappointed. It was truly amazing. Please rush to purchase your ticket !!!
Ladies all over the UK were going mad for the British comedy. They could not get enough of The Full Monty when the smash hit film was shown in the cinemas in the late 90’s (1997). The movie is thirty years old yet still an all time favourite, and remains popular with many.
The original film was set in Sheffield, South Yorkshire up in the North of England. It tells the story of six unemployed men, four of which were steel workers. The film sees then form a striptease act (just like the Chippendales) to make money to survive and pay off debts. One of the main reasons they formed the act was to support Gaz (main character) to be able to continue to see his son. Gaz raises anxiety amongst the group and gets the females in the area waiting and getting exciting with anticipation for the striptease. Additional attention was drawn to the group as they applied extra interest by implying they were bigger and better than the Chippendales, and as they are going all the way and revealing all. The Full Monty !!!!!
The theatre performance was full of the notorious comical lines, and ever popular hilarious scenes from the original film. Such as the dancing whilst queuing at the job centre, Gerard’s interview with gnomes popping up at the window to distract him. There were loads of scenes from the steel works, and no stone was unturned. The performance captures every single detail of the feel good film, and covers many serious life events unemployment, poverty, depression, body image and sexuality.
Everyone throughout the whole performance was outstanding. The actors captured their characters personality and mannerisms to a tee. Great thought had gone into the characters costumes in order to ensure the original film detail was present. For example Horse had the long johns on. Even Dave wore the cling film! Nathan played by Theo Hills was great and really did a fantastic job. The six main characters were awesome. All funny in their own way. The performance was amusing from start to finish, and the atmosphere in the theatre was electrifying.
The build up to that well known final scene was well worth the wait and did not did disappoint. The costumes for the scene were as the movie with some sparkle, and I have to say all of the fellas looked good in them. The Bums of Steel started to dance and they put on one great striptease. Gaz arrived on stage slightly after the others in true Gaz style. Jake Quickenden was no stranger to the Full Monty with having preformed it previously on TV for charity. He did put on one hell of a performance with his nicely toned body. His body did not go unnoticed by the audience. The laughter and screaming from the audience was amazing. It was good to experience this and be a part of it. The performance made you feel good throughout, and on the final screen it truly made you feel like you were in the club with the anticipation building. At the crucial moment as the hats were being flung into the air it crossed my mind as to how the dignity of actors would be preserved. Well this was down to the pure skill of the stage lighting team, well done.
The interchangeable set incorporated all of the crucial scenes from the movie. All of the set changes were slick and well planned. Although the stage cast was small numbers all of them played their part, and assisted one another with switching the set around. Without the great planning work it could have failed, so well done to all.
Ticket prices range from £17.00 to £38.50. This is a good deal for an amazing evening.
Definitely a five star rating with fabulous actors.
The performance was that great the evening when so quickly. I would suggest getting your tickets booked asap as it will sell out very quickly, enjoy.
https://trch.co.uk/whats-on/the-full-monty-23/
Rating: 5/5