Shakers (Re-stirred)

Harleston Players at Archbishop Sancroft High School, Harleston

Review published in the Eastern Daily Press, 30th October 2009

Shakers (Re-stirred)

A night out with a play from the prolific pen of John Godber, is an entertaining, thought-provoking glimpse into aspects of our modern life with lots of social comment wrapped up in some high comedy and seasoned with masses of killing one-liners.

Shakers (the re-stirred version that Godber and Jane Thornton have updated) is now on offer by the Harleston Players, a well established amateur group that relishes challenges.

Four actresses – Dawn Symonds, Emma Owen Jackson, Roz Morgan and Sara Curtis – take on all the parts, from barmaids to waitresses, to male punters, business/yuppie types and supermarket staff. Multi-roling is a tall order, demanding comic precision, a wide variety of credible regional accents and different body language throughout.

Set in a cocktail bar-restaurant, peopled by a cross section from life, ridiculed, sent-up or given a fair hearing as they open their hearts in monologues, it picks up pace on the Archbishop Sancroft School stage in the directorial hands of Emma Mathews.

There is direct address, good miming and at 45 minutes either side of the interval, it is just the right length to amuse, engage and make you think. “What do you do when a dream comes true? What do you dream about then?”

Worth a shot.