Play exposes seedy underbelly of the mating game

A tour de force of energy, Bouncers is a hilarious look at the rituals of the Friday night mating game, played out weekly in cities and towns aound the world.

Although Yorkshire playwright John Godber set his play amid the binge-drinking culture of the UK, it can just as easily translate it to any seedy nightclub you may have the misfortune of finding yourself in after midnight.

Bouncers was set in the late-1970’s club culture but its timeless appeal is one of the reasons the play has become such a huge international success over the past three decades.

Some things never change, and that’s the preening, posturing and pouting of the opposite sex as they attempt to woo us into bed.

Bouncers is a no-holds barred, warts-and-all look at the twists and turns of human attraction, and the primal hunt for sex.

The Bermuda Musical & Dramatic Society has done a fine job of bringing this play to the local stage.

Robbie Godfrey, director and also performer — the forlorn ‘Lucky’ Eric — says  one of the attractions of Bouncers was its emphasis on character performance rather than set.

In these tough economic times, BMDS wanted to stage a quality production but “without the embellishments of a lavish set, fancy lights and high-tech sound”.

The result is a minimal blacked-out set that is surprisingly powerful in its simplicity.

Standing under the red neon sign for ‘Mr Cinders’ nightclub, by graffiti-daubed walls and trash cans, four bouncers muse on life, love and longing.

They introduce the play as “a vision of Eighties’ urban nightlife, of stag nights and hen nights, drunken girls and gallons of booze”.

“All human life is available here in a midnight circus… We will try to illustrate what happens late at night in every town when the pubs are shut and the beers are down.”

Each provides a comic outlook on a typical Friday night out, but there are also hints of sadness beneath the veneer of the cheap cocktails and cheesy pop.

The world of bouncers Eric (Godfrey), Judd (Donna Nicholson), Ralph (Owain Johnston-Barnes) and Les (Jenny Burrell-Jones) is one of watching seedy drunken fumbles by fire exits and “Durex (condoms) laying like dead Smurfs” on a vomit and urine-addled dancefloor.

Producer Lizzy Hadler effectively highlights the poignancy of their observations with sporadic spotlights on each actor against a darkened set.

I also liked the way a series of Eighties’ hits provided a muffled soundtrack in the background, as DJ ‘Marvellous Michael D’ spins his records inside the club.

And there is also spontaneous audience participation, which adds to the sense you are there too, standing in the queue for Mr Cinders on a cold Friday night.

‘Lucky’ Eric (Godfrey), a cynical yet affectionate ‘tough guy’, delivers the best lines. Although his wife and kids have left him, he is protective of the young women who frequent the club.

He laments the drunken underage girls who are “done too soon”, describing them as “pure and dirty, innocent and vulgar, 18 going on 35, because they think they have to, because they’re forced to”.

Although Godber wrote Bouncers in 1977, quotes like this have an added poignancy in today’s sexualized culture.

The bouncer banter is punctuated with scenes involving another two sets of characters — the girls and boys out on the town.

Rosie, Maureen, Susie and Elaine are the girls; Baz, Kev, Jerry and Terry, the boys, each out to impress one another on the dancefloor.

Godfrey, Nicholson, Johnston-Barnes and Burrell-Jones each play a bouncer, a girl and boy in the play, and the sexual role reversal adds to the humour.

Each of these actors puts their heart and soul into their roles, so much so that it is difficult to single any one of them out.

At Wednesday night’s performance, each could have held the stage single-handedly, and all had their regional English accents down to a T. Together they provide a powerhouse of talent.

We’ve all been to a Mr Cinders at least once in our lives, so if you want to have a chuckle — or to reminisce — then Bouncers makes an excellent choice for a night out with friends.

Unmissable — and that’s for the ‘Swedish porn video’ clip alone.

Bouncers, Daylesford Theatre, Hamilton, February 15-16 and 21-23, 8pm. Tickets $25, from www.bmds.bm or the Daylesford Box Office (292-0848).