STAGS & HENS
October 1998
 

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STAGS AND HENS

Dancing, drinking and wedding night nerves all feature in Willy Russell’s sharply observed comedy, STAGS AND HENS which can be seen in a new production by Cumbernauld Youth Theatre which runs from Thursday 22 – Saturday 24 October at Cumbernauld Theatre with performances at 7.45 each night.

        Earthy, entertaining and candid, STAGS AND HENS is set in the toilets of a Liverpool dance hall.  Dave and Linda are getting married tomorrow.  Dave’s out with the lads on his Stag Night, washing a chicken curry down with plenty of Southern Comfort and Black Velvet before heading off to the dancing.  Meanwhile Linda and her pals have had the same idea and the Hen Night party, with Linda dead set on a final fling before the Bid Day, have landed up in the same dance hall.  Disaster is sure to strike if the bride and groom meet before the wedding so Linda’s pals are determined to keep them apart.

        Exuberant and bleakly funny, STAGS AND HENS is a hilarious look at working class misogyny and the rituals of marriage.

        Willy Russell is on of Britain’s most popular playwrights.  His work includes Education Rita, Blood Brothers, Shirley Valentine and One For The Road. 

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It was literally a laugh a minute at Cumbernauld Theatre when Willy Russell’s hilarious play ‘Stags and Hens’ was presented by Cumbernauld Youth Theatre.

        This highly talented group of youngsters, all aged between 16 and 21, served up a real winner.  Nothing could be faulted.  The Liverpool accents were excellent, the timing split-second, the gestures and facial expressions totally convincing.   Director Evelyn Wallace can take real satisfaction from the young cast’s efforts – and the audiences loved it.

        Willy Russell’s 1970 play about pre-marriage night rituals, set in a run down Liverpool dance hall, was updated tot ht e1990s.  The stage night and the hen night have both unwittingly ended up in the dance hall and there are hilarious efforts to prevent the future bride and groom meeting up.  Not that it would make any difference as groom, Dave, played by David Kilmartin, is so drunk he can neither speak nor see!

        The play, by the author of Shirley Valentine and Education Rita, probably went down so well because Scouse working-class humour is so like Glaswegian whit.  There was a serious side to it all of course.  The two groups have noting much to look forward to in life.  A good night all is their main escape, and a wedding brings colour and excitement into their lives.  Bravado is the name of the game.

        All the cast deserve plaudits.  Charles Scullion was excellent as the lady-killing (or so he thought) Robbie; while the dim-witted Billy (Keith Johnston) could get a laugh just by his facial expression.  The more serious Kav was played with aplomb by Mark McKinley, while Thomas Hart deserved praise as the aggressive football-mad Eddie, always waiting for the call from the scout which will never come.

        Peter, the rock singer who upsets the apple cart, was played by Ross Finbow, and his London roadie by Daniel Cumming.

        Among the hens, most of the best lines were reserved for the gallous man-eater Bernadette (Keri Graham), and the naïve Maureen (Cheryl Miller).  Bride to be Linda, and old flame of Peter, (Lynzey Rafferty) was convincing, while Louise Dunn and Lorna Benjamin were the more sensible Carol and Frances who tried to avert disaster.  A great show, by a great cast. 

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