PUBLISHED 29 February 2024
On Wednesday 21st February, the AKS Drama Department took a trip to see John Godber's play, ‘Bouncers’ at Blackpool Grand Theatre.
‘Bouncers’ is set in the 80s and uses music that likens itself to that era such as ‘Rapper’s Delight’ by the Sugarhill Gang. The play generally follows the story of four men, Ralph, Judd, Les, and Lucky Eric, who are all bouncers at a nightclub, known as Mr Cinders. Throughout the play, they become different people, transforming themselves into those that enter, or try to enter in some cases, the well-known nightclub.
Before the show even started, the actors were their characters. They were in the audience whilst people were taking their seats! Although they maintained character throughout the whole interaction with the audience, they broke the fourth wall addressing us directly, with lines as simple as ‘cheers’ or even a simple head nod.
Once they were onstage, so much happened, but it was simple enough to follow along. The play itself contained so many techniques that made everything fit together in such a perfect way. For example, as ‘Bouncers’ is primarily set in a nightclub, they had beer barrels loitered onstage, which they then used in other ways to change scenes. Most commonly for the beer barrels, they became seats, and helped to create levels within the performance, as those further downstage were not blocking the view of those further upstage. They also frequently used the prop of a dainty pink handbag. Each had their own, and when they switched characters from burly, masculine bouncers to feminine, chatty women, it really helped to set the characters in stone even more.
The switch between characters is a technique known as multi-rolling, and Godber’s play included multiple instances where they were able to play more than one character. Each actor had 3 main roles that they switched between (bouncers, male nightclub goers, and female nightclub goers), but there was also a scene where each actor could show their range further, when they acted out people who were kicked out or denied entry into the nightclub. Whilst one actor transformed into a drunk posh man wanting to find a taxi, another played a Liverpudlian, using his scouse accent to hurl abuse at the bouncers; and whilst all this happened, the other two became punk music listeners, using their hands to symbolise a mohawk and lowered their posture to appear smaller than the two poised and rigid bouncers.
“It was so unexpectedly funny, I enjoyed it so much!” - Alex W, Year 12
I have to say that my moment of the play was when they used onomatopoeia to create man-made sound effects to signify a piece of costume. A significant moment is when we first see the character of Rosie as she enters the hairdressers, with her high heels on. We don’t see the heels onstage, but we hear them as the actor says ‘clip clop’ as he is walking. I thought this was both a genius and funny idea, as I haven’t seen it done before in another play, and it separated itself from the dialogue perfectly.
“I thought it was so funny and creative, the transitions and multi-rolling were very well thought out" - Ani N, Year 10
However, these techniques aren’t the only way how the actors showed the complete transition between two characters. The backstage team also helped with this, as the lighting changed with each character. With the bouncers, they tended to use neutral lighting, changing it to pink when the women were the principal characters of the scene. Further fitting into the theme of the 80s, they used a disco ball, spinning it when they danced in the nightclub, but also during the slower, more intimate moments of the play. Whilst ‘Bouncers’ is projected as this comedic play, Lucky Eric’s four speeches set the underlying message of how relationships were being broken apart, and within that society, the issues of adultery and broken marriages. Personally, I felt like the disco ball was used during these moments because it broke itself away from the energy of the rest of the performance, isolating the message from the otherwise fun play. Delving into the meaning further, it could also infer that just because a disco ball is spinning, or music is playing, doesn’t mean everyone is safe and having a good time, and that is something that everyone should be aware of, both in the 80s, when the play is set, and during modern times.
As a GCSE Drama student, seeing this play really inspired me and I can’t wait to apply some of the techniques we saw in ‘Bouncers’ in my GCSE Devised piece. I would like to say a big thank you to the Drama Department for organising this trip, and the many others to come as well!
Isla, Year 10