Last updated 11:33, Friday, 10 October 2008

THE RETENTION and success of Mamma Mia! for three months at Dunmail Park’s Plaza Cinema has by all accounts been gender divisive with an estimated average male attendance as low at 15 per cent, due to what can only be described as an acute embarrassment syndrome.

This is unfortunate because the central theme of the film – the longing of a bride-to-be to find her father; the pain, anguish and consequential regrets of three men whose life’s choices ended Sophie’s dream of a perfect wedding day – is clearly a theme relevant for today’s potential fathers who will sadly not see this film.

It is beyond doubt that a child’s wellbeing is chronically inhibited by the absence of a father’s financial and emotional support. There are well over a million children in the UK who are already disadvantaged in this way, according to the End Child Poverty Campaign.

The Government’s recently announced plans to spend millions to broaden the theatre experience of non-theatre goers suggests that someone somewhere is missing something of value well worth seeing.

Would it not also be a magnanimous gesture on the part of the Plaza, before the film’s run is ended, to offer a free-of-charge showing of Mamma Mia! to a male-only audience, giving us shy guys a night out on our own to see this subtle, non-judgemental enjoyable family-message film? Pierce Brosnan in a Spandex outfit will never be the same on video.

Sophie’s dream of finding her father is a sobering and much-needed reminder of the reality that faces so many of our children today.

RAYMOND HALL
Isel Road
Cockermouth