STAGS and HENS
by Willy Russell

Performed by
LANCASTER UNIVERSITY THEATRE GROUP

Princess Magrethe Hall, St Martin's College,
Bowerham Road, Lancaster
Wednesday 15 to Friday 17 June 2005

A triumphant end to a great year of theatre

Stags and Hens was a bold choice of play, because it is not easy to pull off for several reasons. First, the play is set both the ladies' and the gents' loos of a tacky Liverpool nightclub, and that poses serious obstacles for the director, designer and their team.

Second, Willy Russell is not a fashionable playwright these days. No, I deplore this pointless, thespian faddism as much as you (and as do those who worked on Stags and Hens), but there it is. And the text itself poses a number of problems – practical and theoretical, for director, cast, crew and audiences – which can put off all but the stout-hearted.

Last, the text, nature, voice and whole essence of the play is unmistakeably Scouse. It simply does not work in ‘RP', the Geordie or any other Northern accent except the Scouse, and certainly not in Estuary English.

But Lancaster University Theatre Group (LUTG)'s Director on this occasion, the resilient, able, charming and witty Laura Yates, had no problems with any of all that. (For a full discussion of Laura's intelligent and pragmatic approach to the play and its problems, read our interview with her here.) The show was a great success from every possible critical point of view.

The text was superbly delivered, with fine and convincing accents, by a cast whose stage presence, movement and poise (or lack of it, as they got drunker) were of a high order. It is not easy to play drunk on stage at all, let alone sustain it for two and a half hours. Direction, set design and stage management wer also excellent, even down to the careful gradation of the sound as the doors to the dance floor opened and closed.

The text has some wonderful lines, and I was relieved that mine was not the only guffaw clearly and regularly audible the night we went. Far from it; the audience was spellbound throughout.

As the action slowly veered from the broadly comic to the nearly tragic, the overall pace never faltered, moving sensitively between bravado and pathos, aggression and acquiescence, raucous cackling to resolute determiniation.

In short, a masterly rendition of a piece I originally had reservations about. I am now a fully paid-up Willy Russell fan. And also a devotee of Ms Yates' excellent and varied skills and discipline.

In their last three productions, LUTG has seen the present academic year out with style, panache and sheer outstanding theatre.

Copyright © 19 June 2005 Michael Nunn

For an interview by Michael Nunn with Director Laura Yates, on the nature of Russell's work, planning a show, and rehearsal ups and downs, click here.

To view the trailer of STAGS and HENS, click here.

Advance notice:
Informed sources tell me that next term's LUTG productions are as follows:
Arcadia, by Tom Stoppard, in The Grand Theatre, St Leonardgate;
Warhol, the première of a new play by Melanie Rashbrook (who played Julia in their recent 1984 [see review]), in The Sugarhouse, Sugar House Alley, Lancaster, and
Blue Remembered Hills, by Dennis Potter, in The Gregson, Moor Lane, Lancaster.

Dates, in November and December 2005, are still to be confirmed.

I have also heard talk of Shakespeare's early gore-fest Titus Andronicus, and John Webster's equally gruesome The Duchess of Malfi, so watch this space for further news …