The Full Monty

StageArt’s production of The Full Monty was a high energy affair. The story, familiar to audience members from the film, had been moved to America. With the local factory having been closed, Jerry is struggling to pay maintenance to his ex-wife and faces losing access to his son, Nathan. So he enlists some mates in a get rich quick scheme to produce a male strip show.

Initially we encounter the wives attending a strip show, enjoying themselves enormously and complaining about their husbands. Sophie Weiss is particularly strong as Georgie.

Scott Mackenzie did a lot of the heavy lifting as Jerry, desperate to maintain contact with his son, and cajoling his mates into joining his mad scheme. He moved and sang well and showed the frustration of this flawed man. Alexander Glenk was an excellent Nathan, displaying a maturity he wished his father had. They worked very well together.

Giancarlo Salamanca was Jerry’s best mate, Dave, who was bullied into joining up. He was a good foil to Jerry and also sang well. Jeanette Burmeister had a lovely cameo as the pianist, Barbara, with some of the best one liners in the show. There were no weak links in this cast.

The show is a mixture of comedy and pathos, and in the second act Malcolm, played by Montgomery Wilson, had a tender song, “You Walk With Me”, which he sang at his mother’s funeral. This was followed by “You Rule My World”, sung by Georgie and Vicki, Sophie Weiss and Ana Mitsikas, after they find out and accept what their husbands have been up to.

The band was excellent and the lighting effective. The dancing was strong and the coup de théatre in the finale was the actual “full monty”, discreetly blanked from the audience’s view by blinding stage lights.

An excellent night at the theatre.

Graham Ford

Photographer: Belinda Strodder