Shakers

In Shakers we see the girls of Shakers cocktail bar, the newest, shiniest cocktail bar
in town where, in spite of the glitz and glamour of the décor, the patrons, and the
people who serve them, are none too happy at all.

Every town has its local trendy cocktail bar where everyone wants to be seen, from
the local check-out girls to the chinless wonders, from the yuppies to the local lads
tittering at the thought of a `long comfortable screw'. We are given a wickedly funny
glimpse of this world by the four long-suffering waitresses who work there. Rushed
off their feet, underpaid and overworked, they try to smile and help the difficult
customers whilst coping with their own personal problems. A fascinating and often
hilarious view of the reality that lurks behind the plastic palms and the Pina Coladas.

The play is a sequence of quick-fire humour interspersed with serious

monologues, which are very light hearted. We are given a glimpse of this
world by the four long-suffering waitresses who work at the local trendy
cocktail bar. Each actress's main character has a very distinct personality
and every one of the actresses used their own particular style to portray
these four quite different young girls. As the story unfolds, the waitresses
take turns to describe their character to the audience. Multi-role-play and
cross cutting are used frequently within the play to allow the audience to
meet a wide range of characters.

It is a very astute depiction of real life for the current age. The characters
face ever-present concerns of money, love, self-image, family and peer
pressures; of unwanted pregnancy, sexual harassment and personal safety
in modern Britain.
"The Lads" - as the waitresses depict them - are purely caricature, but
caricature can show up facets and features as sharply as any satire and
use comedy to reveal something new rather than simply an end in itself.
Each actress’s main character is cleverly written
by Godber and has a very distinct personality
and every one of the actresses used their own
particular style to portray these four quite
different young girls. As the story unfolds, the
waitresses take turns to describe their character
to the audience.
Carol wanted the other girls in the bar to make something of themselves.
Degree educated at Lancaster Poly, she secretly wanted to settle down
and have children, but insisted on telling the others not to waste their lives
on men. Her monologue describing her hang-ups was the first serious part
of the play and left the audience wondering what would come next.
Adele was the opposite of Carol. Life was for fun. In her monologue she
admitted to her first encounter with a man taking place when she was only
16, but it was OK as he was a teacher at school! She also got to deliver
one of the funniest exchanges in the whole play, she was making a
Voodoo-Zombie cocktail and the description was “looks like a glass of sick,
decorated with hundreds and thousands”… The play is funny, but it was
also rude, vulgar and very near the bone – just my sort of humour!
Nicki was a budding actress. Giving an air of
confidence, that evaporated when she had to
attend an audition, she was the one who always
felt left out. Having said that, she was the one
who wore the short shorts (with Shakers
embroidered over the bottom) when all the other
waitresses insisted on wearing long trousers. Her
scene with the three TV producers is magic.
She stood behind the bar, trying to overhear what the three dirty old men
were saying so that she could figure out if there was an opportunity to
further her acting career whilst predicting, to the audience, exactly what
they would order to drink next. Her monologue was also arguably the most
moving; her’s was her audition as an actress and she described seeing her
Grandma in hospital after her stroke and how she just smiled at her….
Mel was, despite her youth, already embittered by life. Standing with a
(mimed) cigarette between her fingers and hand on one hip for most of the
play. She has some fantastic one liners and the timing of her delivery was
perfect. Her funniest was a quip to Nicky, who was being full of herself;
“who do you think you are, Bonnie bloody Langford?”