MEMBERS of an Ipswich theatre group will be stripping down to the bare essentials for their next production.Ipswich Operatic and Dramatic Society has announced it will be making a break from tradition for it's annual autumn show next year.

MEMBERS of an Ipswich theatre group will be stripping down to the bare essentials for their next production.

Ipswich Operatic and Dramatic Society has announced it will be making a break from tradition for it's annual autumn show next year.

The society, which usually performs a song and dance revue each autumn, has instead decided to bare all with a production of The Full Monty.

The stage version of the hugely successful film has enjoyed long runs in the West End and on Broadway and has now been made available to amateur companies.

The show will follow a group of unemployed steelworkers who come up with a new way to make some cash after seeing their wives enjoying a performance by a group of male strippers.

But before taking to the stage and stripping off, the group must work through their fears, self-consciousness, feelings of worthlessness and anxieties and discover that working as a team means they can face and overcome their demons.

Shaun Whymark, of IODS said: “There is great heart to The Full Monty, and the ultimate themes expressed in the show, about taking charge of one's life and following one's dreams are great lessons for all of us.”

The show will be performed at the Spa Pavilion Theatre in Felixstowe next October and open auditions will be held in May.

The film The Full Monty was released in 1997 and made a star of Robert Carlyle, who played Gaz, the man who convinced five friends to join him in forming a male strippers troupe.

The film holds the record for the highest-grossing UK film in history. It grossed a total of £160.5 million.

During the making of the film, the six stars had to rehearse for the final scene that sees them entertaining a sell-out crowd of cheering women at a Sheffield working men's club. In front of 400 extras, the actors had to really perform a full-frontal strip - or do the full monty for real.

A number of American cinemas had special leaflets printed containing translations to some of the British slang left in the U.S version of the film so that audiences would be able to follow the dialog more easily.

Performing an autumn musical marks a departure from tradition for IODS, who have presented their Sounds Familiar revue shows 24 times in the last 28 years. This autumn their production was Gotta Sing, Gotta Dance - a revue show similar to Sounds Familiar.