Theatre and Dance Previews

"Are they ready to go all the way"? That is the question on the lips of some intrepid actors about to bare all in The Full Monty!

The musical, which can be seen in Stevenage this month, is based on the hugely popular 1997 film and follows a group of unemployed steelworkers in Buffalo, New York, who after seeing how much their wives enjoy watching male strippers," decide to come up with a bold way to make some quick cash. In the process they find renewed self-esteem, the importance of friendship and the ability to have fun.

Director Paul Laidlaw explained what audiences can expect as the Gordon Craig Theatre's latest in-house production prepares to reveal all!

You are the Director and Musical Director of The Full Monty! Are you a glutton for punishment?!

Paul: Well - there are two things about doing that - yes - it is more work but of course you've only got yourself to argue with!

Obviously The Full Monty a very famous film, but this is a musical with original songs isn't it?

Paul: Yes - totally original songs and a totally new score and of course it's not set in Northern England, it's set in Buffalo, New York.

The film was set in Sheffield and was very evocative of a particular time, how does it translate to the States?

Paul: Remarkably well! I was concerned until I read it - I thought why has it gone to America, but the reason was that Americans wrote it, they saw the film and thought this would make a good stage piece as a musical.

The music is very rock driven so it's very lively and exciting. The songs of course pertain to the characters who sing them, they tell you their emotions and feelings. But the film is not about men taking their clothes off, any more than Calendar Girls is about women taking their clothes off, it's about social structures and all these men are out of work and they feel that they have no self value. The women, their wives and girlfriends, have jobs and they don't and they can't support their kids properly and so they have this terrible feeling of not having any value.

They discover that some strippers, who their wives and girlfriends are going to see in the clubs, are making quite a lot of money and one of them says 'hey look we could do this'. But the joy, of course, is that they are not all Chip 'n' Dale looking men. They are just absolutely ordinary guys and you really care about these guys because they all have their own issues. They all have quite different problems, but it's the bonding between them all that shows, they really support each other and when it does come to the moment when they decide that they WILL DO the 'Full Monty' (there's a question of doubt all the way through) it's a liberating thing really, they are saying this is us and we're worth something.

And that's a universal feeling isn't it?

Paul: Absolutely - anyone can equate with it. Obviously, if you put up the title The Full Monty, a lot of people might think they are going to see a strip show. Well, obviously if you want to see some naked men you will, but that's not primarily what the piece is about. It's quite a thought provoking piece but great fun, very funny.

When it has been such a famous film - is it daunting for you as a director, or do you just forget about it?

Paul: You have to completely forget about the film because if you're doing a musical you think in a different way as a director, you are aiming to integrate the songs into the narrative.

I have seen the film but I've stayed away from it since I've started to do this because of the characters, because while the main guy in the film has a similar sort of guy in the show, they are different people. So there are differences, the only similarity is the situation and the end!

Obviously if you audition for The Full Monty, you know that you are probably going to have to take your clothes off, so you've got that knowledge. So, it wasn't a shock to the cast, but how have you worked with them to get them used to doing it, or are they all used to taking their clothes off?!

Paul: To a certain extent if you work in the theatre you have to do quick changes in the wings and are used to taking your clothes on and off, but there is quite a different between doing that and standing in front of 600 people and going 'here we are - this is it'!

Boys being boys there's the usual sort of thing - 'do I measure up?' / 'do I compare?' and all those sorts of things, but I left it very much to the men. I told them that they were going to have to do it sooner or later so they'd either have to do it from day one - get naked and get used to it - but in the end we decided that we needed to get the play right. I asked them to tell me when they felt they might be ready.

In any case, because it's only one moment when they take their clothes off, and they are not walking around naked all night, until we'd set that final number and the costumes were made, there was no point in them taking their clothes off. But then there came a moment when we all agreed 'let's do it'!

We cleared the rehearsal room the first time they did it (except for me and some stage management) and they just got on with it and once you've done it the first time it's fine! Then we let the female members of the company in, which I think they probably found more daunting than standing on stage in front of 500 people, because they're further away and it's a bit anonymous.

Despite the bit of nudity - is it something you could you bring the whole family to?

Paul: I would have thought yes. You actually have to be quite quick to see the nudity because it happens right at the end and they don't hang around! I would have no fears about bringing my mother or my child, as people who are old enough to understand would not have any problem. There is, as there is in all of these situations, a certain amount of swearing in it, but it's nothing that you won't hear walking down the street.

And there are a lot worse things on the streets?

Paul: Yes - there are a great deal worse things happening on the street than guys dropping their pants, and this show is very entertaining and very moving!

And is there a lot of local talent in the show?

Paul: Yes - the whole point of these summer musicals is to provide a vehicle for local performers who wish to perform! This is a very complicated piece of music and you have to cast accordingly so there are professional people in as well, so it is a mix. But the whole thing is run as a professional thing, in both my guises I am professional, it is lit professionally and there is full West End orchestra, and that's part of the joy for local people that they can work under those circumstances.