The Hour

The Naked Truth is a comedy play set in a pole dancing class where five women struggle to raise awareness for a breast cancer charity. The play has been described as a cross between The Full Monty and Calendar Girls and as well as being extremely funny, it’s also a very real emotional drama.

Former Liberty X singer Michelle Heaton plays pole dancing teacher Gabby and actress Maureen Nolan takes on the role of Sarah, who has breast cancer:

“We all go there for different reasons but for my character it’s for confidence,” Maureen told The Hour. “She’s lost confidence in herself since having breast cancer and she goes along for those reasons.”

The play was written by Dave Simpson and although the play is aimed at women, a lot of the cast’s husbands, boyfriends and male friends have been to see it and absolutely loved it:

“You can see that the men’s faces are so enthralled in the language that women use when they are just with their girlfriends,” said Michelle. “We all talk about how men do or don’t satisfy us so it’s interesting to watch the men’s reactions to that.”

None of the cast had much experience of pole dancing before auditioning for the play apart from actress Julie Buckland, who has been helping the girls to learn their routines: “Julie has done it for a couple of years and she’s kind of saved our bacon a little bit,” said Michelle. “If it wasn’t for her helping us out and teaching us routines we probably wouldn’t look that great, but she’s amazing.”

Three of Maureen’s sisters have had breast cancer, so she could really relate to the role she was playing. She thinks that women’s attitudes when they get seriously ill are fantastic: “Most women with any kind of cancer are just so strong. My sister’s attitudes were, I’m getting through it and I’m getting rid of it!”

The Naked Truth will be showing from 20-22 September at Ayr Town Hall in Ayrshire and from 23-25 September at the Webster Theatre in Arbroath.

POLEDANCING PRODUCTION

• To find out more information about The Naked Truth see the website