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Stars explained: * A production of no real merit
with failings in all areas. ** A production showing evidence of not
enough time or effort, or even talent, and which never breathes any real
life into the piece – or a show lumbered with a terrible script. *** A
good enjoyable show which might have some small flaws but has largely
achieved what it set out to do.**** An excellent show which shows a
great deal of work and stage craft with no noticeable or major
flaws.***** A four star show which has found that extra bit of magic
which lifts theatre to another plane. |
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Dad’s Army
The Nonentities
The Rose Theatre, Kidderminster
****
IT’S fair to say that without the work of comedy writers Perry and Croft
the BBC would have been a very austere place through the 70s and 80s With
sit coms like It ‘aint half Hot Mum, Hi
De Hi
It is
their gentle inoffensive view of our perceived national ineptness that
made them so successful.
With
the Rose theatre sweltering in the 25-degree C heat of a summer’s night,
it ironically might have been more appropriate to have stage
It ‘ain half hot Mum
but the Nonentities have selected three episodes of
Dads Army.
The chosen scripts were Deadly
Attachment, Mum’s Army and
The Godiva Affair
and as all the characters remain the same they
have strung them into an episodic play. It’s
a hard task for any company to take on the roles of such loved and
familiar characters. Even the recent cinema resurrection of
Dad’s Army
struggled to capture the TV magic of the iconic series originally
starring Arthur Lowe, John LeMesurier
and Clive Dunne
but overall the Nonentities made the production their own. This is
probably one of the largest casts that they have assembled with 35
players in total delivering the three 30 minute plays. Although the cast
have clearly studied the mannerisms and voices of the original actors
they have not fallen into the trap o Captain
Mainwaring was ably portrayed by Bob Graham in his own style but Stanley
Barten did a great job as Sergeant Wilson mimicking a lot of the
physical foibles of John LeMesurier. Lance Corporal Jones, the manic
butcher with tales of his former military years, was played by Richard
Taylor. Stephen
Downing was Private Godfrey and again was delightful as the soft caring
man with a tendency for a weak bladder. Patrick Bentley took on the crazed Frazer and perfected his Scottish accent getting a huge round of applause when delivering a version his famous, often repeated catch phrase `he’s doomed’. Private Walker, the Cockney Spiv was played by Richard Casewell and Alex Powell left a strong impression with his lively take on the bumbling yet innocent Pike. Alex Powell as Private Pike All
of the cast worked exceptionally well to recreate the
Dad’s Army
flavour and with a clever set that enabled the interior of Mainwarings
office to be seen and also the church hall the small space was also
quickly transformed into several other locations.
Despite the heat, the opening night was a sellout and that is testament
to how revered the original Dad’s Army
series and the characters it portrayed still are. If
you are a fan of Dad’s Army
it’s a must see. The writing still displays all of the innocent
sensibility of a time before political correctness began to hammer out
any potential misunderstanding in a given phrase and the Nonentities
treated the three episodes they have chosen, with great respect and a
healthy dose of new comic timing. To 11-06-16.
Jeff Grant 08-06-16 |
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f
mere impersonations but bring an element of their own originality to the
scripts.