Morris West is one of the six leading men in the New Zealand community theatre premiere of The Full Monty. Every week he’s going to give us a behind the scenes peep at The Full Monty rehearsals, the cheeky shenanigans, and the naked photo shoots. This is week one of rehearsals and things are just kicking off.

Having now discovered that The Full Monty has nothing to do with the Monty Python that I thought I was auditioning for, it’s great to have week one in the theatre done and dusted, and what a week it was.

Director John Lawson’s fantastic work on the set is looking awesome already and working really well.

Taryn Raynes is throwing herself wildly into promotion, but more of her fetishes next time, because by the time you read this the glossies of the boys will already be out there.

Morris West, Regan Tate, Jimmy Bovaird, Brad Duynhoven, Howard Rozon and Tyler McGlone are the six leading men in the New Zealand amateur premiere of The Full Monty. PHOTOS CREDIT: MONIQUE MATTHEWS PHOTOGRAPHY

Quite a few have used the time before we got into the theatre to get into their lines, so that’s great progress, keep it up. Unfortunately Alan, (ALAN!, ALAN!, ALAN!), only has his script down because he forgets to take it with him on stage.

So time for a few statistics.

At the time of writing there were 86 days till we open. That’s 2064 hours, or 123,840 minutes.

Between Terry Darby, as oldest, and Flynn Wilson, as youngest, there are more than 56 years, or 20,710 days.

For the strippers, Morris to Tyler McGlone is a mere 48 years, or 14,155 days.

My dialogue, in the script, comprises some 2600 words, or 20,000 when John is doing it.

It’s great to see so many supporting those on stage during rehearsals too.

Act 1 is now blocked, so it’s on to Act 2 this week.

Mighty Mo signing off.

THE DETAILS: The Full Monty, a play by Simon Beaufoy and directed by John Lawson, is on at New Plymouth Little Theatre from July 14 to July 31. Early Bird tickets went on sale at noon on Wednesday April 21 at iticket.co.nz. They are $25 with the code “TAKEITOFF”