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'STEPPING OUT'
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A Comedy by Richard Harris (by arrangement with Samuel French)
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| Stepping Out, which enjoyed a succesful West End run at the Duke of York's Theatre in London, is a warm and very funny play about the lives, laughs and loves of a group of women (and one man) attending a weekly tap dance class in a dingy church hall. There is ex-professional dancer, Mavis, who runs the class, cheerfully overweight Sylvia, Andy (a plain do-gooder with no confidence), snobby but well meaning Vera, timid Dorothy (who works in social security), Maxine (attractive, sharp and very shrewd), plain Lynne, Rose (the Golden Oldie) and Geoffrey (the lone male). As the play progresses, the class's dancing improves to such an extent that, by the climax (a grand charity show performance) they have been transformed into triumphant tappers, worthy of any chorus line. Stepping Out was voted Comedy of the Year by the Evening Standard Drama awards in 1984. |
Get to know the Charactors
MAVIS
Circa 40. Ex pro-dancer. Patient, kindly, but does lose her temper once in the play. Mrs Fraser is like a surrogate mother to her but we only find that out later in the play. Has a roguish boyfriend who uses her and probably has other women, but Mavis in this respect is one of life’s victims. No longer able to survive in the cut throat dancing world where younger more attractive girls are getting the parts she has to make ends meet somehow and this weekly class is probably her livelihood
MRS FRASER
Circa 50, pianist. No-nonsense northern woman who prides herself on her pessimism. She can be abrupt and scornful but always seems to get away without seriously offending anyone. Wears a tweed coat and knitted woollen hat. As the play develops we see she cares for Mavis and understands her domestic situation. Spends most of the time at the piano, reading a magazine, eating fruit and making acid comments. Seldom looks at people when she talks to or about them. She dances in the final show.
DOROTHY
Any age, works in Social Security Office. Small, anxious and birdlike, she has a habit of repeating the last two lines when someone speaks (‘...someone speaks ... yes!’) and adding a ‘yes’.. Dorothy is enthusiastic and bustles about. Comes to class on her bike and can often be seen coming into the hall in her bicycle helmet.
LYNNE
Late teens or early twenties, a trainee nurse. Eager to please and never wears make up. She is the most proficient dancer of the group. Inoffensive. Has habit of biting her nails whenever she makes a mistake or is under pressure.
MAXINE
Very ‘London’ accent. Confident and wears good make up. She has ‘the gear’ and is often seen trying to sell her co dancers leotards etc. Has a wayward son and a layabout husband at home. She is very friendly with Sylvia. Likes to think she is one of the more able dancers. A female Arthur Daley’.
ANDY
40’s, Wears large glasses, sensible ‘sempsy’ clothes. Very self conscious. Shrinking violet and we wonder what makes her this way, painfully self-deprecating. Then we find out much later that she is in an abusive relationship and has paid numerous visits to A&E after having been beaten by her husband. She is also an active campaigner – currently putting together a petition against turning the common into a mass burial ground if there were a nuclear war. She forms a bond with Geoffrey as the play develops.
SYLVIA
Any age, can be a bit course. Her husband is on the dole but still working as a window cleaner. Often late paying for the lessons, usually at least a week in arrears. Very friendly with Maxine. Bright, tatty and outrageous clothing, which is not really suitable for her figure. Chews gum much of the time and leaves it in the ashtrays around the room.
VERA
New to the group. Neat and proper as a pin. Wears expensive clothes, high heels. Make up and hair are immaculate. For all her primness, she dresses in a way that suggests a high class tart. She is rather tactless, obsessed with hygiene and as the play develops takes it upon herself to clean the hall, producing lavatory brushes, aerosol polish and air fresheners from her bag. We learn later that she is on her second marriage, her husband is a control freak and there is a suggestion he is having an affair with his stepdaughter. Vera is actually rather a sad and pathetic creature.
ROSE
In the script she is a larger than life Trinidadian woman. I would still like her to be larger than life however. She is a ‘good’ homely woman with a loving family. At the beginning she is wearing a wig after a disastrous attempt to do her own hair. (script will be changed slightly here) She later loses the wig. She has two left feet, little sense of rhythm but loves every minute. Whenever she makes a mistake (which is often) she smiles broadly unphased. She also loves jewellery.
GEOFFREY
The ‘token bloke’! I see him as late middle age, maybe older. The sort of man who doesn’t like to be noticed and most of the time he wouldn’t be! Bit of a nerd, works in the city and usually comes to class in a tired rain coat and old suit, carrying a briefcase, usually containing his tea – sandwiches wrapped in cling film. Once at class he changes into a tracksuit bottoms (the bottoms of which he tucks into his socks) and an array of jumpers. Forms a bond with Andy.
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