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'Allo 'Allo

Author: Stuart Ardern

Information

Date
20th July 2012
Society
Lyndhurst Drama & Musical Society
Venue
Vernon Theatre
Type of Production
Play
Director
Jenny Green

As you might expect, the main action of ‘Allo ‘Allo takes place in Café René - indeed, for the opening, it occupied the whole of the theatre, with Neville Green as the melancholic proprietor entering through the body of the theatre, greeting members of the audience as patrons as he began is discourse on the state of play.  However, there are scenes elsewhere, notably in the quarters of the occupying forces; a simple half-stage curtain and we were straight into the rooms of Herr Flick of the Gestapo (a splendid turn of controlled mania from David Foote).  This simple expedient enabled the show to keep the momentum necessary for farce.
‘Allo ‘Allo has a large cast - eighteen roles, including the extras and the British Airmen, reprising the majority of the main characters from the TV series.  It is the familiarity that makes the show popular, but it comes at the expense of plot, with a lot being taken as already understood by the audience.  That said, there was plenty of fun for the actors and audience with the verbal and visual gags and the characterisation, with Stephen Ferder wonderfully straight-faced as the vowel-mangling Officer Crabtree.  There were even some elements of surprise, with Di Buck drawing gasps from the audience as she went into Helga’s private striptease.

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