Reviewed by Zoey Caldwell
I remember watching the gripping television series with my Mum back in the 90’s so when the opportunity to came to watch the stage adaptation I was quite excited.
The story is set in the 1990’s in Bradford and centres around the lives of four women, working in the oldest profession in the world. Unlike the series Secret Diary of a Call Girl, Band of Gold is dark and highlights the grim reality for many women, stuck in the cycle of debt, drugs or mental health issues and the reality that they face to stay alive or look after their children. Working the streets when there is a dangerous murderer targeting street walkers is not a place that anybody would want to be.
Rose (Gaynor Faye) controls the girls and who works the patch, an addict, with the unbearable heartache of losing her baby to social services sixteen years ago. She is brash and gobby, loud and obnoxious and although she tries to undercut the girls, their friendship matters more. Definitely somebody you would want on your side not against you. The harsh reality is that she is an addict that prostitutes herself to buy drugs, promising herself that she will get clean, when her daughter finds her.
Anita (Laurie Brett) is a kept woman, her businessman lover paying for her flat out of convenience, desperate for him to leave his wife to be with her, she considers herself a cut above the girls because she is not walking the streets. Anita provides a safe place for the women to conduct their business, but for a price of course.
Carol (Emma Osman) a single mum, with a history of sexual abuse and a pre-pubescent prostituting, Carol wants more for her daughter, she works to pay off fines, and keep a roof over her daughter’s head. Mental health issues and possible cleaning OCD are some of the other struggles Carol faces as well as a love for an old punter.
Gina (Sacha Parkinson) the new girl, after throwing out her husband for domestic violence and getting into debt with a ruthless loan shark, Gina soon learns that lip gloss and eyeshadow sales for Avon are not going to pay the bills and she convinces Carol to introduce her to the underworld. Pretty, clean and new to the job she proves a hit with the punters, but her downfall is her ignorance to the dark and despairing world on the streets.
The police investigation unearths old emotions for Carol as an old flame Inspector Newall (Shayne Ward) returns to the area. Newall knows Carol from way back when he was in vice, a love affair rather than a punter and the possible father to Carol’s daughter, there is a love there but with Carol’s background can there be a happy ever ending?
One lighter moment in the show is when Carol invites a new punter to her home, scared that he may actually be the ripper, Carol is on high alert. However, it turns out that Curly (Steve Garty) has a fetish and is willing to pay good money for it – you’ll never wash your dishes in the same way again! It is quite a scene!
With high-profile actors, stars of stage and screen I expected more from them, I have enjoyed most of their performances on television in different roles, but it was Gaynor Faye and Laurie Brett that surprised me. Without being an actor, I can appreciate the difference between stage and screen, but I felt they were over the top, and I don’t mean their characters personas but their acting. I was disappointed to be honest. Out of the entire cast I would say that the relatively new Emma Osman stood out as a talent to be watched. Shayne Ward plays a minimal role and Kieron Richardson plays a violent husband – not too dis-similar to the role in Hollyoaks when he was married to Amy!
Kay Mellor introduces the stage show via voiceover at the beginning, she warns that the show is not for the faint of heart and if you are sensitive to swearing it is not the show for you.
The stage show lacked the gripping nature of the television show but was an easy watch and I enjoyed it overall. It is a reminder that many struggles lead to a life on the streets, it is a dangerous place and yet some feel no other choice but to risk themselves over and over and yet with some encouragement and help lives could change! A slightly gritty yet humbling watch.
Rating: 4/5
Tickets cost from £13 (plus £3.65 transaction fee).
Kay Mellor’s Band of Gold is at Milton Keynes Theatre from 9-14 March 2020, for more information or to book tickets visit www.atgtickets.com/miltonkeynes or call the box office on 0844 8717652.
Milton Keynes Theatre, 500 Marlborough Gate, Milton Keynes, Bucks, MK9 3NZ