The Full Monty, Theatre Severn, Shrewsbury - review

My only defence is that, along with Steel Magnolias, it is probably my mum's favourite movie.

So, when I told her it was at Theatre Severn in Shrewsbury, she couldn't wait and immediately cancelled her Monday Zumba class to be sure she could make the opening night.

And she wasn't the only member of the packed-out audience who was excited.

I could tell Shrewsbury was going to be a rowdy crowd when the ladies in front of us started whooping and wolf-whistling as soon as Gary Lucy came on stage.

And he still had his clothes on at that point.

The show won't disappoint fans who love the film's iconic soundtrack – and largely stays faithful to the script of the movie, with some necessary adaptations for the stage.

The staging was clever, all made to look like the inside of an abandoned Sheffield steelworks, with different areas illuminated to be places like the nightclub, the police station and the job centre, with oil drums and crates repurposed throughout as things like tables and chairs.

See a trailer for the show here:

The ensemble cast featured a few familiar faces from stage and screen who popped up in multiple roles but all gave a good show.

The big names when we saw the show in Shrewsbury were former Hollyoaks stars Gary Lucy as Gaz – the Robert Carlyle part in the film – and Chris Fountain as Guy, who may be better remembered from the movie as, ahem, Lunchbox, played by Hugo Speer.

His entrance just before the end of the first half was memorable for sure.

Dinnerladies' Andrew Dunn takes up the role of former steelworks foreman and dance instructor Gerald, who has been hiding from his wife that he has been out of work with the others since the steelworks closed.

The boy, Nathan, was played on our night by Reiss Askey, who got one of the biggest laughs of the night while trying to convince his dad to get on the stage at the end.

And yes, they do go the Full Monty.

By Sophie Madden