Two aluminium beer barrels and a line of four white handbags greet the audience as they take their seats for the latest edition of John Godber’s play Bouncers, so what are they in for? Outside the theatre four bouncers in dinner jackets give the theatre’s patrons the once over, and suddenly the same men bound onto the stage and proceed to do a song and dance routine. They go from masculine to feminine with ease and they show how the guardians of night clubs think and act. The edge to this is the quality of their performance and the brilliance of the writing. Godber knows his stuff and one wonders what his students were like at his schools, for he must have got his ideas from somewhere, or perhaps he was once a bouncer. Anyway, wherever he got his ideas for this performance it was all worth it. You could not call this a play, more like his usual pattern of sketches neatly joined together to make an intriguing whole which director Gareth Tudor Price put into place with skill.

The four actors Jack Brady, Chris Connel, Andrew Dennis and Robert Hudson give faultless performances as Judd, Les, Ralph and Lucky Eric and hold the audience in their hands as they slip from one routine to another. The content is bawdy and basic, but Godber seems to have a knack with this sort of material and it seems to drift into everyday normality. The word discipline slips into the mind to describe the performance, and the well chosen mix of music adds to everyone's enjoyment of the entertainment. Oh, where do the handbags come in?, well let your mind wander to imagine four big men behaving like girls. You go to see what they get up to.

This is a great evening at the theatre and if this production comes your way make every effort to go and see it. The theatre was bustling as they took their drinks during the interval. Just one little thing that could have improved the staging was the avoidance of strobe lighting during the film sequence, but if you close your eyes you can listen to the words, but wonder why everyone else is laughing. Hull Truck Theatre is quite unlike anywhere else so make the journey and imbibe quality theatre. © BA

“Bouncers” is in Hull from the 24th of April, 2003 to the 17th of May, 2003.