WOULD she or wouldn’t she?

The moment when Mrs Robinson strips off and offers young Benjamin Braddock an affair is one of theatre’s most notorious scenes.

It was a pivotal scene in the classic 1967 film The Graduate staring Anne Bancroft and Dustin Hoffman.

It’s since been made even more famous by the likes of Jerry Hall, Kathleen Turner and Linda Gray baring all on Broadway and West End stages.

And when an amateur group, The Masker Theatre Company, lifted the curtain on its version of The Graduate at The Nuffield in Southampton last night, everyone was wondering just how much their Mrs Robinson would reveal.

Sarah-Jayne Wareham, who stars as the seductress, told the Daily Echo beforehand that the moment should shock but not embarrass the audience.

And though she did strip completely, she saved the audience and her own blushes with a subtly draped bath towel across her derriere.

The audience took the scene in its stride and it didn’t seem that too many eyebrows were raised.

Director Steve Cosier said: “We didn’t need full nudity. We wanted it to be suggestive.

“Subtle nudity is much sexier than it being in your face. I was very happy with the audience reaction.”

He added that leading lady Sarah- Jayne had been apprehensive before the curtain went up.

“She’s very brave,” he said. “I was nervous myself”.

n The Graduate runs at The Nuffield, Southampton, until Saturday.

n See tomorrow’s Echo for a full review of the production.