'Allo 'Allo

~~Ever a popular Television series it is always more difficult to move such a show to a stage environment. The ability to “cut and paste” as it were whilst meat and drink to the medium of the TV producer  is of course quite impossible for the stage director. Aye there's the rub as Shakespeare would have it.

Carlton Players made a good stab at it but trying to juggle the several different locations which were needed to cover the plot tended to kill the pace of a piece which relies heavily on the flow of the action.

This is not a reflection on the competence of the Directors Mike Sanders and Paula Condiffe-Hughes or Stage Manager Pam Buckle and her team as the problems lie in dealing with a play which was not originally intended for the medium of the stage. It is interesting to note that it is billed as “Based on the BBC
Sitcom” but not specifically written for the stage.   What of the cast?

The audience naturally looks to see the character they remember from the small screen and I am sure they were not disappointed. Steve Youster certainly was Renee torn between his wife well played by Vivienne Sebastian, the ladies in his life  Michelle(Louise Wade), Mimi(Olivia Sebastian) and Yvette (Danielle Jones) and plagued by his erstwhile friend Lt Gruber (Tony Condiffe). To this mix you can add Her Flick and Helga (Graham Breckon and Nadine Murphy) Officer Crabtree (Mark Prescott) Nick Fawdry, Michael Hunter Sy Winship, John Mulligan, Gareth Crawshaw and Mark Latham all fulfilling the roles we have come to know so well.  They were well served by their entire backstage team whose contributed so much to the show.

I have seen several adaptations of TV successes and all suffer from the same problems. It is a mark of Carlton Player's expertise that they were able despite the difficulties to give their audience an enjoyable evening.

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