Black Adder II

Thank you very much for inviting me to your production of ‘Black Adder II’.

Blackadder II is a staging of the second series of the perennially popular TV show starring Rowan Atkinson. As with other Richard Curtis scripts, there is some freedom as to which bits of the original TV material one presents. This adaptation offered us excerpts from the episodes  “Chains”, “Money”, “Bells” and “Head”.  

The action was played on each half of the stage. A table and chairs stage-left represented Blackadder’s home and a throne and stool stage-right formed Queenie’s stateroom. Using each half of the stage separately worked effectively and was clearly an attempt to move between scenes efficiently. 

It was a nice touch upon arrival to find ushers helping patrons. To find their seats whilst in full Elizabethan dress. An. Addition feature that was appreciated was the programme delivered in the form of a scroll complete with red ribbon to tie it with. Upon taking their seats the audience were greeted by a member of the cast promenading around the stage displaying a placard bearing the words “Phones post 1600 to be switched off”. Another member of the company was interacting with members of the audience by ‘taking orders for the interval’. Items on offer included: Shin scratchings, Fried eyes and Mackerel.

Set

The set was minimalistic and remained static throughout instead opting to have three distinct areas in which the cast could move from one location to another with no need for fast transitions to be made. Queenies stateroom was vibrant and luxurious filled with detail including curtains and a throne to suit the Elizabethan era. Black adders house on the other hand was dark and barren highlighting a real contrast in status.

Costume

Costumes were effective and great care had been given to ensure all were dressed appropriately with enough detail to highlight the hierarchy of the characters in addition to the personality traits of each character. Queenie naturally had the most elegant costume which was bright and luscious, Black adder wore darker colours which were much more bland in contrast.

 

Blackadder was very ably played.  Without doing an impression of Rowan Atkinson, he managed to keep the dry humour and sarcasm of the character whilst still making it his own. Likewise, Baldrick had great fun in the role of the downtrodden servant and worked well with Blackadder with a good sense of comic timing between them. Queenie and Nursie were a superb double act.  They transported us straight back to the TV series; not only fabulous at the comedy but really looking the part too. All of the other roles were brought to life by a very talented set of actors who obviously had great fun in portraying these absurd set of characters.

This production was played by a small cast and saw many members of the ensemble playing multi roles. Each of these were well executed and each character had a clear individual and identifiable difference which worked effectively.

Thank you once again for an enjoyable evening.

Kind regards

   Ryan Procter

   District 3 Representative

Any observation made by the reviewer can only be based on what he sees at the performance in question. The reviewer may have received information in advance of the performance, and it is inevitable that his assessment will be effected by that knowledge.

The N.O.D.A. Representative’s intention is to give an objective critique of the overall production and in particular the performance viewed. It should be remembered that any review of this nature can only be objective as far as the techniques used during the performance observed. Any criticisms expressed may not have been valid at other performances, and are only made to encourage higher standards in Amateur Theatre.

It is hoped that the audience’s appreciation of your efforts will have given everyone a lift and encouraged you to greater achievements in the future and that the observations made by the reviewer will prove helpful in improving future productions.

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