It's Saturday night fever with a Bolton wonder boy: Raz is buff and ready - peek inside a reveller's head, writes PATRICK MARMION 

By Patrick Marmion for the Daily Mail

Published: 19:03 EST, 13 August 2015 | Updated: 19:16 EST, 13 August 2015

Raz (Assembly, George Square)

Rating:

We've seen the pictures of town centres on a Saturday night. Here comes a peek inside the head of one of the revellers, courtesy of Lancashire laureate Jim Cartwright, in a show performed by his buff strawberry blond son James.

Cartwright senior is best known for his 1992 play The Rise And Fall Of Little Voice, which starred Jane Horrocks.

This one proves he’s still got what it takes. It’s a feast of street argot that put me in mind of Dylan Thomas’s Under Milk Wood mixed with Anthony Burgess’s A Clockwork Orange.

The hero Shane is the cock of the walk in a Northern town that is almost certainly Cartwright’s native Bolton.

The hero Shane is the cock of the walk in a Northern town that is almost certainly Cartwright’s native Bolton

The hero Shane is the cock of the walk in a Northern town that is almost certainly Cartwright’s native Bolton

He is discovered baring his abs and pecs to a tanning lamp while wearing only goggles and Superman pants.

His rhythmic, rhyming slang takes us on a tour of his big night out through thronging pubs and booming clubs via steamy taxis and stinking alleys.

On the way he provides brilliant snapshots of characters, including a seen-it-all Welsh taxi driver and a codface mate with oily cheeks.

It’s a demanding one-man show, skilfully executed.

Readily and sensationally vain with cheap deodorant he sprays over the audience, Cartwright Junior is a John Travolta of the North, pulling some smart moves to Northern Soul music.

With his toned, tanned physique and arrogant front he could be easy to hate, but he has a twinkle in his eye, and Dad ensures that the hedonistic story has a soft centre in which Shane secretly pines for his one true love.

Director Anthony Banks announces himself, too, as a snappy young artistic force, tightly synching the performance with lights, music and action — including a firecracker from Shane’s fingertips.

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