Privates on Parade

Synopsis

Malaya 1948 and the British Army is fighting communism. One of its secret weapons is the bawdy humour and musical revue of the Song and Dance Unit South East Asia - better known as SADUSEA. Join Captain Terri Dennis as he attempts to create a sparkling show, despite being landed with a bunch of wet behind the ears recruits who can’t tell a tap step from a tea cup. Under the increasingly deranged eye of a Sergeant Major convinced that Christianity can overcome Communism, can new boy Steven Flowers keep his nerve, and lose his virginity, before the final curtain? Based on playwright Nichols’ own experiences entertaining the troops during his national service with Kenneth Williams and Stanley Baxter, Privates On Parade is a portrait of a forgotten struggle and an affectionate musical tribute to the British Army entertainment corps. Expect strong language, song, dance and comedy.

Our Review:

11 December 2001

In the same week that the National Theatre revives Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific, chronicling wartime operations and romance in the South Sea islands, the Donmar Warehouse offers a completely different view of a British army entertainment corps working in Singapore and Malaya in 1948.

The two shows couldn't illustrate the differences between an American and British sensibility towards their subject more deftly than these do. While South Pacific employs sentiment and lush tunes to provide an uplifting experience of the heart, Privates on Parade uses ironic humour and a sparsely functional, mostly pastiche set of songs to provide a journey through a dark night of the soul. Both, however, are informed by their essential humanity: the conflicts against which their stories are set allow both Hammerstein and Privates playwright Peter Nichols to explore character as much as situation.

But Privat...

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Latest User Review

USER: Whatsonstage.com (213.1.149.165) - 8 December 2002:

The best bit was at the end when you could leave the theatre, followed a close second by the interval. I was bored throughout, a lot of the show repeated itself and you could see the "jokes" coming a long time before the punchlines....

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