'Allo 'Allo

Clavering Players did well to tackle this ambitious production in the limited space they had, when at times there were more blow-up characters than real actors all occupying the same stage, which had been transformed from the village hall into a cafe in war-torn France.

The cafe looked very convincing, but care needed to be taken in such a small space that actors did not block each other.When Bertorelli was first sitting with the Colonel, (Tudor Owen), in the cafe, Rene was blocked by Bertorelli’s splendid hat. Maybe if he had removed it as he sat down, that would have helped. When Flick, (John Oglesby), was frantically examining his sausage in the cafe, he had his back to the audience and not only completely blocked the other characters, but also stopped the audience from enjoying their anticipated reactions. The other missed opportunity was when Helga, (Charlotte Foster), did her partial striptease. She was behind the desk, which meant the audience never got to see the underwear Flick was wanting her to show.

One of the most difficult scenes of this play to stage is the cinema scene, with the challenging logistics of the hidden mousetraps. Jennifer Scott-Reid chose to have Helga and Bertorelli with their backs to the audience, which again meant that the actions and expressions of the protagonists were not visible to be enjoyed. If there had been a bit of gently flickering light in the background that may have helped suggest they were watching a film, but it was a shame for the audience to not have been immersed in the scene.

Matthew Elliston’s Rene managed successfully to hold the play together, which is no easy task, with the increasingly convoluted plots being played out effectively. The audience certainly enjoyed the deliberately “awful” singing of Jean Schofield’s Edith, and the comings and goings of the many characters such as Yvette, (Sue Grant), Mimi, (Helen Howett), Crabtree, (Jamey Benson), and the General, (Gordon Cummings).

This play relies on controlled “overacting” and caricatured accents. Although the standard of the accents was somewhat variable, there were indeed some wonderful cameo performances. Netti Lomas shone in her role, lighting up the stage with her portrayal of Michelle with her perfect “French” and “Airmen English” accents. Keith Nuttall was obviously enjoying himself as Bertorelli, injecting great energy into his performance. The little cockatoo scene with David Smithet as LeClerc was brilliantly executed, although the use of Leclerc in the Mme Fifi song and in the fruit salad scene became distracting. It is always difficult to keep the peripheral characters animated in a scene without them drawing focus away from the main action, and perhaps it would have worked better if Edith had worn the fruit headgear rather than LeClerc, and if LeClerc had been quietly just making fruit salad as opposed to eating most of it. Martin Gouldstone gave a very watchable performance as Gruber, and the comic timing between him, Rene and the misbehaving sausage in Rene’s back room was spot on.

The sound cues, upon which a lot of the comedy relies, all worked well, and the cast thrilled the audience with the ever-increasing chaos as the story unfolded. The variety of costume and props all added to the atmosphere, so well done to all on a great team effort and many thanks for inviting me.

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