John Godbers work had always found a home at the Festival Fringe where he has directed and produced it himself and where many young theatre groups have also taken it on. This production by Abingdon 750 is one of the best versions of Bouncers I have seen.
The four young actors (Max Hutchinson, Francis Gater, Huw Parmenter and Eddie Wilson) play the night club bouncers of the plays title, gearing up and looking forward to a bit of trouble before their shift is over. They also take on the roles of four young louts out for a night out, and four rather unsophisticated young women all bent on a night fuelled by alcohol and ending in sex. The company has deliberately chosen a very difficult cabaret space complete with working bar, mirrors and huge pillars (which puts me in mind of the cult Edinburgh show Sell Out! last seen in the 80s), but director Jon Barker has worked wonders with it and his actors performance.
The performers slip between the characters beautifully, and they are all cleverly delineated from each other. Max Hutchison is wonderful in his three monologues as Lucky Eric, when we get to hear what he really thinks about his life. Here, and elsewhere Godbers writing is wonderfully lyrical and moving. But the main thrust of the piece is comic, and the actors have great fun particularly playing the four girls desperate to get laid.
There is a slight problem with the actors youth and trim frames the original production featured big, burly northern lads. In fact the transposing the piece from the North to London (judging by the accents attributed to all the characters) doesnt quite work, especially when they make references to such things as budgie feed and dubbing. These are not the only references which are also anachronistic, even in this 1990s remix.
These are minor carps, though, and the best tribute I can pay is I was surprised as I staggered up the stairs from the basement theatre to realise it was still the afternoon so completely had I bought into the seedy, violent nightclub world the production had presented.
