"Checkout Girls" by Louise Roche

Performed by The Arcade Players

Duchess Theatre, Long Eaton.

Prior to the days of Supermarket delivery, I often used to think that the day to day life of supermarket staff would make a great source of humour for the stage and TV. And then came TV shows like "Trollied" which proved me to be right.

This is a comedy play, with music, about the women who work within the local supermarket, "Freshways". The supermarket prepares to host a singles night with karaoke, and the girls, and odd job man, disclose and discuss their varying love lives. It's written with wit but also has a message to give about living for tomorrow and following your dreams.

Here is a play that isn't performed very often, and more often than not, there is a reason for it.

It has scope to be a play to rival plays like "Bouncers" and "Shakers" but, for me, isn't that funny, although there are glimmers of comedy genius, like the line when Sylvia reveals that a "big knob" is due to visit the store, and the reply that she receives. Moments like this though are a bit hit and miss, despite every effort from the cast, sometimes a less than average play can't be elevated. That said, the second act was much funnier than the first act and there were sections that I loved.

There are scenes between Shelly and her Mum, Pam, that bring real drama to the story and you really feel for Pam when you hear the back story.

I also loved the part when Tammy's "boyfriend" is being spied on by Shaz and Shaz has to report back to Tammy on what he has in his basket. That is great comedy.

The opening where Malcolm, thinking he is alone in the store and "Holding Out For A Hero" plays over the in-store sound system and he dances around with his brush to the song. We've all been caught like that haven't we?

And the simmering crush between Malcolm and Sylvia is a lovely thread from start to finish.

Shelly is the shy, put-upon checkout girl, played by Grace Deakin. Like the shy caterpillar, she gets the strength to reveal her beautiful, glittery red wings as a singer. The relationship she has with her Mum is quite crushing until Shelly explodes and lets her Mum know her thoughts about her deceased father and the relationship between her and her late father and her Mum. Grace closes the first half with a stonking version of Shania Twain's "Man I Feel like A Woman", and in the second act with a tender duet with Pam on "The Greatest Love Of All"

Pam is Shelly's mum, an agoraphobic, and played by Sheila Poyzer. As I mentioned above, this relationship is one of the best written in the play. You feel for her mental agony for not being able to go outside, although she makes an exception when she tends her late husband's grave. I adored Sheila's versions of "Over The Rainbow" and "The Best Thing That Happened To Me" which turned into a real tear-jerking moment.

There is always a pair who are "best friends forever" in any work place and here they are Shaz and Tammy, played by Hayley Wood and Clare Toska. Shaz is sex mad with her married boyfriend, whereas Tammy is in the throes of lurve with her man, played hilariously by Damon Pipes. Shaz and Tammy's Abba costumes are wonderfully tacky, as they are intended to be, but provide more light relief in act two.

Sylvia, the supervisor who tends to mother the girls, is played by Lyn Jones. A real mother figure with a certain harshness, knowing where to draw the work lines, especially where Shelly is concerned and her lateness.

Malcolm, who is the maintenance man in store and the object of Sylvia's affections, is played by Nick Hallam. It's ironic that he opens the show with "Holding Out For A Hero" and ends the show a kind of hero himself, drawing Pam out of her home to see Shelly sing and making the mother/daughter relationship firmer than it ever was. He also gets his reward.

Throughout the play we hear the disembodied voice of Mr Worley, the shop Manager, who also makes an appearance later in the play as Pam's late husband in a touching scene where they dance together. The role is played by Keith Butcher.

There's also a role as the visiting stranger which is a non-speaking role who also delivers news to Shaz; but is it good news or bad news?

Fleshing out the cast are the ensemble consisting of Keith Butcher, Miriam Deakin, Roberta King, Gary Lever, Karen Robbins and Louisa Ward. The male dancers are like watching your dad at a wedding disco after a few sherries. Great fun to watch but not that rhythmic, which hopefully is the image that was intended.

Directed and Produced by Margaret Butcher, I think she did the best she could do with a play that started off as an OK script and twinkled every now and again. it produced several comic scenes, which may have been enhanced with the use of microphones, as some of the script was a little hard to hear.

The show is choreographed by Carol Lawson and resulted in more comic moments with some of the moves busted. I think the family disco dancing was pitched perfectly. Great fun to watch.

The set design and projection was done well and made you feel as if you were down the aisles of your local Freshways; I almost expected Rylan to bounce on for a game of Supermarket Sweep.

Lighting is by Mike Beedham, and apart from a couple of times when the actors weren't in the spotlight, I think this part of the technical side was done well.

The Sound is by Chris Renshaw, who also did the backdrop projection. I was unsure as to if the sound was supposed to replicate the in-store sound system that you hear while shopping, but I'd have had the backing music just a bit louder. Apart from that, another sound success.

This is a play where there is no written soundtrack and uses popular songs, sung by the cast, which all tie in with the storyline. "A Little Less Conversation", "The Greatest Love Of All", "Wishin' and Hopin'", "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" and many more.

The programme says that it is set in present day, but the script has several dated references, and with an update to references, such as David Cassidy popping by - an impossibility as Cassidy died in the same year as the play was written, the script could have been fresher.

I also was confused as to what Shelly was miming in the first act, but we think that it could have been her scanning items through the invisible checkout for an invisible customer.

I won't sugar coat it; this will never be one of my favourite plays, because I didn't think the script was as strong as it could have been, but all actors gave everything and seemed to be having great fun in the process, and seeing them having fun helped me to enjoy the play a little more. I would have cut the repeat of the final two songs as well and just ended on the final bows as I don't think the reprisal of "A Little Less Conversation" and "Holding Out For A Hero" added anything.

"Checkout Girls" will be checking out of the Duchess Theatre in Long Eaton on Saturday 5 November.