A riotous parody of the nightclub scene

FRIDAY, FEB 1: A post-midnight walk along Front Street on any given Saturday night will give you an idea of the tone of an upcoming production by BMDS.

Bouncers follows the musings of four brutish nightclub doormen and the shameful antics of the men and women who come out to party weekend after weekend.

As Ralph, Les, Judd and Lucky Eric prepare for another night on the door, we lay witness to excessive drinking, shot slamming, cheeky gropes, violent brawls and the inevitable late night kebabs.

This production is to be directed by professional actor Robbie Godfrey, who, due to unforeseen circumstances, is also to play one of the four leading roles — Lucky Eric.

He told the Bermuda Sun: “We start the play off with an introduction that’s done as a rap. It segways into a scene where the girls are getting ready at the hair salon and then over to the lads getting all smartened up ready to go out.

“The social commentary to this play is — why do we do it? Why do we go through all that effort, only to get drunk and do something we will probably regret? It is the primal mating game and we dress it up in this crazy ritual.”

The original play was an international hit comedy written and directed in 1977 by Yorkshire (UK) dramatist John Godber. The Stage magazine described one production as “an extraordinary piece of physical theatre” while local newspaper the Wolverhampton Express & Star said it was “unmissable”.

The other bouncers in this production are Les (Jenny Burrell-Jones), Judd (Owain Johnston-Barnes) and Ralph (Donna Nicolson) who also play all the other characters in the play. Godfrey’s character Lucky Eric stands out a little from the rest of the bouncers as he goes off on a number of philosophical musings about the ways of the world.

Godfrey explained: “Lucky Eric begins by absolutely loathing that part of society and he is very protective over the young girls — he just wants to cuddle them. He has a paternal streak but his character goes on a journey and he changes later on.

“He is a bit of a hot head — the other bouncers give him time to vent. A couple of the other bouncers tend towards wanting to fight if anyone gives them any trouble. It is a highly energetic show — if we are not dripping with sweat at the end of it I will be disappointed.”

Bouncers will be at Daylesford Theatre from February 14 to 16 and from February 21 to 23 at 8pm. Available for $25 at www.bmds.bm or from the Box Office on 292-0848.