'Allo 'Allo

This play ‘Allo ‘Allo features so many recognisable characters from the 1980s/90s hit comedy set in Nazi-occupied France during World War II. Al Pitcher played Rene Artois with confidence and great stage presence, and a good accent throughout. He had a lovely engaging manner when speaking directly to the audience, and really held the piece together, as the action revolved around the café, and the entanglements Rene finds himself in due to the Resistance, the Occupying Force, and the Gestapo, to say nothing of his own staff. Al was excellent in this demanding role.  

Rene’s long suffering wife Edith was played by Sam Randall, I really liked the delightfully forceful delivery, and easy familiarity between the two of them, the conversations with thinly veiled put downs, they worked well together as a couple. Bravo to Sam on the singing and cabaret performance, she went all in, as Edith would. 

The café maids were Yvette (Jenny Pitcher) and Mimi (Alice Szptma), with very different personalities.  Jenny’s accent was really good, and I suspect that Alice enjoyed being incredibly stroppy on stage. Another Café regular was LeClerc, which Craig Stevens played with great comedy timing and inuendo. Tina Cooper was Michelle (of the Resistance), bossing Rene around, and James Phillips played Officer Crabtree with an amazingly accurate accent, emulating Arthur Bostrom in the sitcom, James was clearly favourite with the audience.  

Another double act I enjoyed watching were Carl Carrington as Herr Otto Flick, and Helga played by Holly Stanhope. Both had great characterisation, with Herr Flick’s deadpan comedy moments, and Helga’s extraordinarily loud voice and eagerness to please, putting on the long coat without letting go of his stick made me giggle.

Colonel Von Strohm was played by Andy West, and delivered the subtle humour well, I liked his facial expressions when reacting to the various outlandish schemes. Dedric Smith played Captain Bertorelli, hard to miss in the large black feathered hat, I felt that maybe the Italian accent slipped at times, and only really saw the playful lothario element when dictated by the script. Chris Davies played Lieutenant Gruber, a German officer with a crush on Rene. He had some very funny lines and situations, though the pace of action seemed to slow down when waiting for his dialogue and reactions, and there were a couple of prompts needed to get back on track.

Dan Dodman played General Von Schmelling with the necessary authority, not on stage much, but had a great scene trying to eat knockwurst (sausage) in the café, being refused at two tables, in case the sausages contained a hidden painting. The British Airmen, German Soldiers, and Peasants were played by Emily Whyte, Shannon Emerson, and Iris Hill, nice little cameos with great costumes. The clothing was spot-on for the characters, and the props were good quality, especially the menus on the tables, and the radio disguised as a Cockatoo, there were a surprising number of blow-up Hitler dolls, but it’s just that kind of show. 

Sound and lighting were effective, though the blackouts were rather quick, not letting the joke punchline settle to get a decent laugh, before moving onto the next scene. I liked the use of back of a row of chairs and projection onto the back wall for the cinema scene.  As with all amateur dramatic productions, a lot goes on behind the scenes, and from a chat with Jonathan McDonald the Director, I understand there was a far from simple tech set up needed to achieve that.  

The café was a full stage set, with larder on the front left on the hall floor with a low platform and some crates and food. Various other offices and rooms were created with half stage cloths, which worked well due to being authentically patterned and aged. It was a real treat to be invited up onto the stage and served drinks at the café bar in the interval, a lovely idea to include the audience that way, and give them a chance to meet the actors in character. My thanks to the cast and crew for a very entertaining evening.

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