IF you strip away that brief flash of full frontal nudity – yes, puns intended – then what you have here is a classic tale of British pluck triumphing over all the odds.

Mind you, this point would undoubtedly be lost on the majority of the mainly female audience, who spent most of the evening on the edge of their seats cackling for the lads to get their kit off.

However, Simon Beaufoy’s moving play about Thatcher-battered Sheffield in the 1980s brings into sharp focus the desperate plight of the industrial north of England during that dark era.

Unlike today, when no one expects to stay in a career, let alone a job for life, these bewildered men believe they have lost everything. So why not their clothes as well… and make money at the same time?

So, forgetting the endless underpants contents-based humour for just a moment, what we have here is a community fighting back and - to some extent - winning.

Spurred on by Gaz (Gary Lucy) these boys are down but not out, even if they are dogged by all the self-doubts and neuroses that have tormented the human male ever since time began.

Particular mention should be made of Fraser Kelly, who plays Gaz’s son Nathan. Astonishingly aged only 12, he not only commands the stage, but also outwits his struggling father at every turn.

Louis Emerick, as the ironically named Horse, is the least likely lad of this motley crew. But here Beaufoy taps into our eternal love of the Douglas Bader type of hero, who overcomes his disabilities to win through, regardless of odds.

Further comic sequences are provided in abundance by Gerald (Andrew Dunn) and Guy (Rupert Hill) who quite possibly introduces a unique form of prosthetic into the anatomical repertoire.

The Full Monty is a very profound piece of theatre yet funny at the same time. It’s an absolute must-see and runs at Malvern until Saturday (November 14).

John Phillpott