SHAKERS

cut to the chase... in a Queen's Theatre, Hornchurch production

Shakers

A SPARKLING SMASH-HIT COMEDY
from the writer of Bouncers and Up ’n’ Under

28 September – 13 October

By John Godber and Jane Thornton

Welcome to the liveliest bar in town for a wickedly funny peek behind the pina coladas and plastic palms at SHAKERS Cocktail Bar.

Meet Carol, Adele, Nicky and Mel on a night out to remember as our four
long-suffering waitresses take you on a hilarious, heart-warming journey through their lives, loves, hopes and dreams.

They’re underpaid and overworked, but with a twist of wit and a splash of humour, the Shakers girls can handle the most colourful of characters - from lads on the pull to checkout girls on the town!

Contains some adult language

Running time: approx 1hr 50 mins including interval

EXTRA!! Bouncers - just £5*

Why not complement your trip to Shakers cocktail bar with John Godber’s other famous comedy BOUNCERS, prior to selected performances of Shakers:

£10 | *£5 for Shakers ticket holder | FREE for jump the Q members.

For futher details and to book please contact the Box Office on 01708 443333

Click for more details

Sign Language Interpreted performance

Interpreted by Martin Roberts on Saturday 6 Oct at 2.30pm

Audio Described performance
Described by Hannah Dunton Saturday 6 Oct at 2.30pm

Next from cut to the chase...

The Hound of the Baskervilles

Green performances

Full Price | Band 1 £23 | Band 2 £20 | Band 3 £16.50

Concessions: £5 off full prices (Band 1 £18 | Band 2 £15 | Band 3 £11.50)

Children, full-time students, Under 26, those in receipt of Jobseekers Allowance, Income support and Disability Living Allowance (proof will be required)
Family and friends 5 or more

Children aged 2 and under can sit on adults lap

Young person groups (schools/registered organisations) of 15 or more - £11 per ticket
+ 1 free teacher/leader ticket with every 15 child tickets

Havering school groups of 15 or more - £10 per ticket
+ 1 free teacher/leader ticket with every 15 child tickets

Group bookings - please call the Box Office on 01708 443333

Gold performances

Full Price | Band 1 £26.50 | Band 2 £23 | Band 3 £19.50 (no other concs)

Children aged 2 and under can sit on adults lap

Bargain Blue performances

Full Price | Band 1 £ 17.50 | Band 2 £15 | Band 3 £12.50 (no other concs)

Please note: Children aged 2 and under can sit on adults lap

Young person groups (schools/registered organisations) of 15 or more £11 per ticket
+ 1 free teacher/leader ticket with every 15 child tickets

Havering school groups of 15 or more £10 per ticket
+ 1 free teacher/leader ticket with every 15 child tickets

Group bookings - please call the Box Office on 01708 443333

Young person groups of 15 or more | £9.50 per ticket +1 free teacher/leader ticket with every 15 child tickets

Havering school groups of 15 or more | £8 per ticket + 1 free teacher/leader ticket with every 15 child tickets

Tue 4 Dec at 2pm | Thu 3 Jan at 2.30pm

£14 child & concs | £20 standard

FAMILY TICKET | £61 (2 child/2 adult or 3 child/1 adult)

Concessions - those claiming State Pension, Under 18s, full-time students, those in receipt of Jobseekers Allowance, Income support and Disability Living Allowance (proof will be required)

Children aged 2 and under can sit on adults lap

Young person groups (schools/registered organisations) of 15 or more - £10.50 per ticket
+ 1 free teacher/leader ticket with every 15 child tickets

Havering school groups of 15 or more - £10 per ticket
+ 1 free teacher/leader ticket with every 15 child tickets

Other groups of 10 or more - £2.25 off

Group bookings - please call the Box Office on 01708 443333

Bargain Blue performances | ALL tickets £12.50

Young person groups (schools/registered organisations) of 15 or more £9.50 per ticket

+ 1 free teacher/leader ticket with every 15 child tickets

Jump the Q members | £12.50 plus one £5 child ticket per member

Children aged 2 and under can sit on adults lap

Green Performances | £14 child | £15 other concs | £19.50 adults

Bookings of 4+ receive 10% discount
Bookings of 8+ receive 15% discount

Concessions | Those claiming State Pension, full-time students, those in receipt of Jobseekers Allowance, Income support and Disability Living Allowance (proof will be required)

Jump the Q members | £15 plus one £5 child ticket per member (group discount not valid on Jump the Q discounted tickets)

Young person groups (schools/registered organisations) of 15 or more - £9.50 per ticket
+ 1 free teacher/leader ticket with every 15 child tickets

Children aged 2 and under can sit on adults lap

Gold Performances | £16.50 child | £21.50 standard (no other concessions apply)

Bookings of 4+ receive 10% discount
Bookings of 8+ receive 15% discount

Jump the Q members | £15 | plus one £5 child ticket per member (group discount not valid on Jump the Q discounted tickets)

Please note that online booking for Sunday Jazz will close on Friday at 5pm however bookings can still be made by telephone or in person on Saturday and on the door from 12 noon on the Sunday.

Red performances

Full Price | Band 1 £23 | Band 2 £20 | Band 3 £16.50

Concessions: £5 off full prices (Band 1 £18 | Band 2 £15 | Band 3 £11.50)

Children, full-time students, Under 26, those in receipt of Jobseekers Allowance, Income support and Disability Living Allowance (proof will be required)

Children aged 2 and under can sit on adults lap

Full Price Band 1 £23 | Band 2 £20 | Band 3 £16.50

Concessions Available

Over 60s: £3.50 off all prices
Disability Living Allowance claimants: £3.50 off all prices
Jobseeker’s Allowance and Income Support claimants: £7 off all prices
Under 26s, students and children (under 18 and in full-time education):£7 off all prices
Groups of 8 or more: £4 off full price tickets

Full Price Band 1 £17.50 | Band 2 £15 | Band 3 £12.50

Concessions Available

Under 26s, students and children (under 18 and in full-time education): All tickets £9.50

Full Price Band 1 £26.50 | Band 2 £23 | Band 3 £19.50

No Concessions

There are currently no performances scheduled.

Rachel Dawson
Carol

Natasha Moore
Adele

Lucy Thackeray
Mel

Laura Pitt-Pulford
Nicky

Shakers

4 STARS

- whatsonstage.com

What do you do for a main-house show when the masculine part of your repertory company is busy touring secondary schools and sixth-form colleges with John Godber and Jane Thornton’s Bouncers? You make the obvious choice – and mount the sister show Shakers. What&rs…

A stirring Shakers

- Reviewsgate.com

While John Godber directs a revival of his Bouncers on tour, this riposte about young women waitresses, co-written with Jane Thornton, reaches the Queen’s. In southern accents the smart customers sound really posh, moving cocktail-bar Shakers upmarket. But the gap between the waitresses’ plastic smiles and their contemptuous facial expressions behind customer backs, or thoughts spoken out-loud, remain forceful as ever.

Despite necessarily updated references to keep in the swim of today’s Friday nights out, Shakers breathes a 1980s atmosphere of affluence, glittering prices accommodated by credit cards willingly wielded, and a sense of excitement at women empowered, while men still think their commonplace innuendoes come across as wit.

The Shakers sheen is transparently fake. The bubble of easy credit and illusory element of female freedom is clear, with the male boss insisting the women wear shorts. In the end, money, and their need for it, does the talking.

In early productions, the Bouncers-style presentation jumped to the fore, sudden transformation of characters between staff and customers and cross-sex playing (with aptly crude mockery of male body language) grabbing audience attention.

That’s still evident - there’s a wittily-pointed moment of ego-deflation involving adjustable seats – while designer Claire Lyth expresses the frenetically shallow world in sleekly stylish panels and glittering costumes, exuberantly lit by Andy Smart. But the production’s distinguished by the individuality of each character, from graduate Carol who can only land a job here, to Mel for whom waitressing is what’s expected from life and who attacks anyone showing contempt for a job she sees stretching into her future.

The characters’ solo speeches are treated by director Matt Devitt and his cast as insights into each character’s vulnerable core, so they acquire a Shakespearean depth. All are gripping, with Laura Pitt-Pulford’s Nicky especially memorable, as she escapes into a job dancing, Pitt-Pulford exposes the anxieties of someone attempting to reassure herself while gradually exposing what there is to worry about in the life to come. You feel for her, as by the end you do for all four, and for the sad depths behind the shallow glitz and laughter.

by Timothy Ramsden

Director	Matt Devitt
Designer	Claire Lyth
Lighting	Andrew Smart
Choreographer	Donna Berlin

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Shakers

4 STARS

A stirring Shakers

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