Dad’s Army
May 28, 2008
Venue: Theatre Royal, Newcastle
Date Reviewed: 28 May, 2008
The thought of seeing Dads Army return to the stage filled me with dread, how could a set of new actors recapture the world-wide hit BBC comedy? Forty years on we were being expected to laugh again at the Walmington –on-Sea Home Guard as they blundered through another four episodes of the Jimmy Perry and David Croft comedy.
It could not work, could it? The characters are so well defined and live on in the memory so vividly, it seems sacrilege to tamper with them. This reviewer can even remember the original cast bringing a touring version of the show to this very theatre in the mid seventies!
But I am relived to say, within a few minutes of the Home Guard marching on to the stage, to a round of applause, all doubts were lifted. There were more than a few times I honestly thought Arthur Lowe was on stage as Captain Mainwaring and not actor Timothy Kightely. Also in front of us we had Sergeant Wilson, Corporal Jones as well as Frazer, Godfrey, Walker and Pike all lovingly recreated for which full credit must be given to Sally Vaughan, who was in charge of casting. The mannerisms, actions and comic timings were all perfect, and thank goodness, not over done.
The show is split in to four episodes, two of which appear to have been wiped by the BBC in the 1970s and lost forever to a TV audience, while the others are familiar. It seemed these two episodes gave the audience the most please especially in the final episode called The Deadly Attachment. This is the one where the Home Guard are put in charge of German U Boat Prisoners and you wait expectantly for Mainwaring to bark the immortal line “don’t give him your name Pike” , which was greeted by applause and cheers from the audience.
The show never goes for cheap laughs by repeating the catch phrases but they are all there from Frazer and “We’re doomed” to Mainwaring and “you stupid boy”, each and everyone acknowledge by the audience.
The token “name” of Leslie Grantham (Eastenders Dirty Den) as spiv Private Walker adds nothing to the superb cast although he does recreate the character quite well. But this show does not require a star name, it is an ensemble piece that allows you to wallow in nostalgia.
The audience were mainly of a certainly of an age that would remember the original show but I took my eight year old daughter with me to judge her reaction as I was around the age I when I started to watch the show. I am pleased to say that she giggled and laughed all the way through, despite not understanding the War and the Home Guard, which proves this is a show for the whole family and not just those who want to recapture a piece of TV nostalgia. But, for those that do, this show is seventh heaven.
There is already talk of another tour with four different episodes, let us hope it happens.
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