TV producers were always on to a sure fire winner with a Kay Mellor script but this stage adaptation was a gamble which didn’t quite pay off.
The stage script didn’t vary much from the original but somehow the drama just wasn’t there.
The plot centres around a group of shop workers whose syndicate wins the lottery with each character’s history revealed as the show progresses.
We all rooted for the characters in the TV show but somehow I found myself just not caring for the underdeveloped stage versions.
But one thing that does remain is the unashamed nepotism in a Mellor production.
Her daughter Gaynor Faye and grandson Oliver Anthony take to this stage this time, with Faye also directing. The mother and son duo also featured in the fourth series of the TV hit.
Faye had little to do of note on the boards but Anthony, in his stage debut, was a convincing bad boy.
Former Corrie star Brooke Vincent was a decent superbitch but fellow soap star, Emmerdale’s Samantha Giles, was pretty disappointing.
She struggled with whatever accent she was trying to pull off and couldn’t quite get the projection right – either so quiet her words were unintelligible or just resorting to shouting.
Benedict Shaw as Stuart, however, does have the makings of a very decent actor showing more depth of character than the rest.
The set was simple and relied on blackout to make it work in the first act but it just all felt a bit amateur.
It certainly didn’t feel like this was a lottery winning night out.
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