National Tour of Dad's Army Marches On

Abridged review from 'Nowt to do'  

Here’s a really stupid idea. Take Britain’s most enduring sit-com, Dad’s Army, and put it on stage…Well, it turns out it’s not such a stupid idea. From the moment that our favourite characters from the Walmington-on-Sea Home Guard make their entrances we can breathe a sigh of relief and trust that we are in safe hands. The show has pulled together four of the television episodes. Mum’s Army sees Captain Mainwaring, a terrifically accurate portrayal by Timothy Kightley, fall head over heels in love. There is genuine pathos here. In Branded Maitland Chandler plays Private Godfrey (beautifully) and finds himself ostracised from the platoon once they find out that he was a conscientious objector in The Great War. Keep Young and Beautiful contains one of my favourite scenes so I was a little worried that the stage show would find it hard to pull off. I need not have fretted; they pulled off the make-up well, with big laughs. Finally, The 2½ Feathers contains the most ambitious staging of the evening as it plunders a flashback to the Battle of Omdurman in 1898. Funny and sad and much more theatrical in its approach, this for me was the high spot of the show. Producer Ed O’Driscoll deserves high praise in assembling a cast that works so well.  

Stop Press

We are pleased to announce that Walmington-on-Sea’s finest will be treading the boards again in the Spring of 2010 when Calibre tours Dad’s Army Marches On. Check the website for more details as they become available.

Calibre Productions has a rare treat in store for this Autumn. Work is currently underway on a brand new touring production of Porridge, written for Calibre by TV series writers Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais. The national tour of Porridge will be launched on Friday 28th August 2009 at the Gordon Craig Theatre, Stevenage.

See Weekly Shows for more details.