Raving Beauties (Manchester)

Dave Simpson’s Raving Beauties has been inviting the audiences to the Golden Gate clubs beauty pageant in Salford since 1986. It enjoyed success with several now famous celebrities including Minnie Driver and Sarah Lancashire backcombing their hair and sticking on the press on nails.

The show returns to its home turf in this production by Broken Echo Theatre Company who found success with the show last year, and it’s easy to see why.

The play centres on a group of women all competing for the title of Miss Golden Gate Club, all having their own reasons for wanting to win it means tensions are high and the bitching even higher as the young women wait nervously backstage. However all is not what it seems as one of the women is actually a man with reasons of his own for wanting to throw on the 3 inch heels.

Under the direction of Helen Parry, the show glides along as effortlessly as one of the contestant’s gowns and it makes for a very enjoyable evening. However don’t be fooled, this play has far more substance than just laughter and smiles. A heavy Act 2 makes this a compelling piece of work, it never mocks the subject matter but instead points out the heart as well as the dangers of searching for acceptance in a world that demands perfection. Its even balance of drama and sharp humour elevate this to more than just a Friday night hen party show.

The casting of this particular production is impeccable. Katie McArdle provides the comedy relief with great flair as Karren – a girl who just wants to please her boyfriend, and Penny McDonald and Mark Sheals (who gets creepier as the show goes on as the club’s owner and compere) are wonderful as Dianne and Jack. In fact the entire cast are an absolute joy, as they commit wholeheartedly to the piece and their characters.

However, for me the show was all about Jennifer Jordan O’Neill, who as Jill gives one of my top ten performances of the year, and I have no doubt we will be seeing much more from her, and I for one can’t wait.

This is a gem of a show with great attention paid to the decade that taste forgot, if you can get past the rather weak ending you will be smiling as much as the pageant girls are.

– Craig Hepworth