April 14, 2008
Whilst it is a cliché to say so about film adaptations of television comedies, there was a time when no British sitcom was judged a true success without a summer season adaptation at Blackpool, Bognor or Bournemouth. As late as 1990, 'Allo 'Allo played a packed-out season at the London Palladium, whilst Dad's Army itself was staged as a collection of scenes from the TV show with songs in revue format both in London and nationally in 1975 and 76. That production opened, oddly enough, in a seaside town beginning with B, but the fishing port of Billingham, Teeside, and not on Blackpool's starry Golden Mile.
Ironically, due to DVD and multichannel television, viewers today can remain closer to the original than was possible during the original run of Dad's Army. Most famously of still successful shows it was Doctor Who that suffered the most from the habit of wiping expensive videotape, but much of Dad's Army's 1969 series has been destroyed by the BBC and this production's selling angle of providing audiences a chance to see the 'lost' episodes of the show is a fantastic idea in abstract. One feels a little let down on discovering that only the first half (comprising stagings of 'A Stripe for Fraser' and 'The Loneliness of the Long Distance Walker') is composed of lost material, however, whilst the second is made up of a truncated version of the rarely-shown 'Room at the Bottom', and a final rattle through 'The Deadly Attachment', one of the programme's best known episodes, first shown in 1973. This led to the first half of the show being a fun exercise that lay somewhere between archive-work and heartfelt tribute, with the second seemingly like a resurrection of jokes too familiar and timid parody. It was hard to know whether to treat the show as a gentle farce, or instead like a stadium comedy show on the lines of Little Britain or The Mighty Boosh.
Yet, several of the performances had much to commend them, not least Timothy Kightley's homage to his fellow Derbyshireman Arthur Lowe's characterization of Captain Mainwaring. Thomas Richardson and David Warwick as Private Pike and Sergeant Wilson gave their portrayals something that trod the line between an impersonation of the television original and a personal take on the character, as did star-draw Leslie Grantham, playing Walker as a cross between Dirty Den and Flash Harry that was cozy and instantly recognizable but not derivative. The remaining members of the platoon were not quite so well realized, but good enough to keep the ensemble together.
What is also hard to know is how to conclude a review when one has left the theatre feeling like one has been thoroughly entertained as well as a little bit cheated by the whole premise. What I doubt is that any Dad's Army devotee would leave this production uncheered and without having laughed their socks off; likewise, I am convinced that anyone coming to the concept cold or coldish would remain unmoved and with their socks still firmly in place.
Ironically, due to DVD and multichannel television, viewers today can remain closer to the original than was possible during the original run of Dad's Army. Most famously of still successful shows it was Doctor Who that suffered the most from the habit of wiping expensive videotape, but much of Dad's Army's 1969 series has been destroyed by the BBC and this production's selling angle of providing audiences a chance to see the 'lost' episodes of the show is a fantastic idea in abstract. One feels a little let down on discovering that only the first half (comprising stagings of 'A Stripe for Fraser' and 'The Loneliness of the Long Distance Walker') is composed of lost material, however, whilst the second is made up of a truncated version of the rarely-shown 'Room at the Bottom', and a final rattle through 'The Deadly Attachment', one of the programme's best known episodes, first shown in 1973. This led to the first half of the show being a fun exercise that lay somewhere between archive-work and heartfelt tribute, with the second seemingly like a resurrection of jokes too familiar and timid parody. It was hard to know whether to treat the show as a gentle farce, or instead like a stadium comedy show on the lines of Little Britain or The Mighty Boosh.
Yet, several of the performances had much to commend them, not least Timothy Kightley's homage to his fellow Derbyshireman Arthur Lowe's characterization of Captain Mainwaring. Thomas Richardson and David Warwick as Private Pike and Sergeant Wilson gave their portrayals something that trod the line between an impersonation of the television original and a personal take on the character, as did star-draw Leslie Grantham, playing Walker as a cross between Dirty Den and Flash Harry that was cozy and instantly recognizable but not derivative. The remaining members of the platoon were not quite so well realized, but good enough to keep the ensemble together.
What is also hard to know is how to conclude a review when one has left the theatre feeling like one has been thoroughly entertained as well as a little bit cheated by the whole premise. What I doubt is that any Dad's Army devotee would leave this production uncheered and without having laughed their socks off; likewise, I am convinced that anyone coming to the concept cold or coldish would remain unmoved and with their socks still firmly in place.