Slappers and Slapheads

Slappers and Slapheads is a comedy stage play written by Merseyside writers Fred Lawless and Len Pentin The play was first performed in 2003 at the Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool returning the following year to the Liverpool Empire Theatre and Manchester Opera House.

Plot

The play is set in a fictional Liverpool nightclub called The Palace (it has been suggested that The Palace is in fact based on The Grafton Ballroom, a famous Liverpool nightclub which closed in 2008.) Each of the various characters in the play appears to have come to the Palace for a night of fun and to 'cop off' with someone of the opposite sex, but as the various plots unfold we discover that they are in fact all there for very different reasons. As each character pursues their quest the play moves up a gear bringing about a fast paced second act in which comedy inter-weaves with some sad moments.

Original Cast

The original cast were:

Paul Duckworth as Chris

Gillian Hardie as Donna

Gina Lamb as Elaine

Linzi Matthews as Sue

Mike Neary as Billy

Liam Tobin as Gary/Barry

Pete Price as Pete Price

Other performances

The play was staged again at the Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool from Friday 6 February to Saturday 7 March 2009 with the following cast:

Helen Carter as Sue

Warren Donnelly as Chris

Gillian Hardie as Donna

Mike Neary as Billy

Alan Stocks as Gary/Barry

Keddy Sutton as Elaine

Pete Price as Pete Price

The director was Bob Eaton and the producer Kevin Fearon.

Review

The Liverpool Daily Post review, 4 July 2003:

With a title like this you could be forgiven for expecting a night of crude humour and sexist jibes. Instead we were treated to one of the best nights of home-grown comedy theatre to be enjoyed in a long time. Filled with laughter, pathos and consistently excellent performances Slappers and Slapheads was a real triumph.

Penned by Liverpool duo Len Pentin and Fred Lawless, the action was set in The Palace, a city club with more than a passing resemblance to the infamous Grafton in West Derby. Pete Price made an early appearance as the club DJ adding his own brand of humour to get the audience in the mood and add an extra layer of realism as he introduced some disco classics

The cast of Gillian Hardie, Gina Lamb, Linzi Matthews, Liam Tobin, Michael Neary and Paul Duckworth were outstanding throughout, skilfully combining raucous slapstick with moving drama.

The first half was packed to the rafters with visual and verbal gags but, after the interval, the mood turned, as drunken nights out in clubs often do. Despite the more serious topics of birth and death, Pentin and Lawless managed to keep the laughter coming and more than one audience member alternatively wiped away tears of mirth and sadness.

It was a little tricky to work out when the ending was coming as a series of short vignettes finished the play with each character resolving their problems before heading into the night. But when the finale finally came, many of the audience rose to their feet to deliver a well-deserved standing ovation.

They may have been slappers and slapheads but they proved to be the perfect companions for another great night at the Liverpool Comedy Festival.'

References

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