Dancin’ thru the Dark
Dancin’ Thru’ The Dark was produced by Annie Russell and Andree Molyneux for the BBC and Foremost Films. The film was released in 1990.
The film is an adaptation of Willy Russell’s play Stags and Hens. Willy wrote the screenplay, composed the score and appeared in a cameo role. Mike Ockrent directed.
Cast
Linda - Claire Hackett
Peter - Con O’ Neill
Eddie - Mark Womack
Kas - Simon O’ Brien
Maureen - Angela Clark
Frances - Louise Duprey
Bernadette - Julia Deakin
Dave - Conrad Nelson
Twelve years after Stags and Hens was produced on Stage Willy Russell decided to revisit the film version.
“I’d been approached by an American writer who wanted to acquire the rights to the play ‘Stags and Hens’ so that he could write it as a film set in America. At the same time, I was being approached by Annie who wanted me to write a film that she might produce. Added to all that, I was extremely conscious of having failed to deliver on an earlier commission from Andree Molyneux. And, probably, feeling rather obligated, I thought, instead of handing it over to be made as an American movie, why don’t I write the screenplay myself and see it made as a British movie, set in Liverpool”.
Annie Russell - Producer, Dancin’ thru the Dark. 1990
Mike Ockrent who had directed the original stage production of Educating Rita and One for the Road went on to direct Dancin’ Thru’ The Dark.
“Although a hugely successful stage director, Mike always nursed an ambition to direct film and later in the 80s he did the BBC directors training course. Mike’s first feature for TV was ‘Money For Nothing’, written by Tim Firth and produced by Andree Molyneux. When it came to discussing directors for the film of ‘Stags and Hens’, I can’t remember discussion of any name, other than Mike’s”.
“The casting process was, as is usual, a truly collaborative process with myself, Mike, Annie and Andree all involved in suggesting and seeing various actors, some of whom would already have been known to us, for example, Con (who’d already played Mickey in Blood Brothers), Angie Clark who Annie had first worked with when she was producing ‘Letter to Brezhnev’ and Julia Deakin, who had been one of the original Rita’s at the Piccadilly Theatre in the early 80s.
I remember thinking at the time that there were some really terrific performances in the film. A couple of years ago, the film was shown as part of the Clapperboard series of presentations in Liverpool and I saw the film on the big screen again for the first time since the original release. It seemed to me that, with time, the performances were even richer, deeper and better than I’d remembered – with the one notable exception of my own cameo performance which almost had me fleeing the cinema!”
Stephen Graham made his film debut as football kid in Dancin’ thru’ the Dark.
Bruno Tonioli was the choreographer on the film.
The soundtrack for the film included songs from Ruby Turner, Billy Ocean and Deon Estus. Several songs were written by Willy Russell and a single of the title song, Dancin’ Thru The Dark, performed by Con O'Neill, was released in 1990.
“The track Dancin’ Thru the Dark was written specifically for the film as indeed were all the tracks, apart from ‘Shoeshine’ a version of which I’d written some years earlier. In the film we tried to suggest that the song was not one of their own compositions but a kind of ‘standard’ that the band had covered”.
Film Education produced a study Guide when Dancin’ thru’ the Dark was first released.
