Bouncers

MIG at Fisher Theatre, Bungay

Review published in the Eastern Daily Press, 2nd November 2011

Hailing from the Midlands, MIG (Men in Glasses) Productions, a not-taking-themselves-too-seriously company, brought Bouncers to Bungay.

It’s one of John Godber’s classics, and they did a remixed, updated version, with local towns referenced to bring it home. From the opening comic dance routine to the bitter-sweet end, pace never flagged, deftness of touch didn’t falter, laughs didn’t dry up.

Most of the verbal gags came from the original version; such humour is timeless. The physicality was an added comic treat. The play’s social comment is still as barbed, perceptive and close to the mark as ever.

The multiroling, including female roles, was sustained by Chris Pindar, Jon Williams, Martin Voyle and Andy Jones perfectly. Each cameo moment, from club, to door, to bar, to taxi, to hairdressers, was a priceless, believable snapshot of real life.

That it should be the underbelly, the sordid weekend night times, the unpleasant side of real life drawn so graphically, is a mark of Godber’s playwriting skills. That it was interpreted so well, is the measure of this lively, ambitious company on their first foray into our region.