Black Adder The Third

Visiting ADHOC is fast becoming an occupational treat for me; this was my second visit this year but this time in their Carlton Village Hall venue; with the front of house team just as welcoming as at Harrold,

Our welcome was completed by an impressive programme cunningly disguised as a very cleverly produced, A3 size, regency period, broadsheet. Neat idea!

As a long-time fan of both Messiers Curtis and Elton; and in particular Blackadder I arrived with anticipation and trepidation in equal measures.  After all Atkinson, Robinson and Laurie made the three main characters; Blackadder, Baldrick and Prince George very much their own.  I am pleased to report any fears were completely unfounded.

When putting on one of these iconic TV comedy series which are becoming increasingly popular with the paying public, all groups are well aware that their audience are expecting to see as near as possible an accurate facsimile of the characters as portrayed by the original actors.  Most societies I’m sure don’t have access to a long list of lookalikes; so with clever wardrobe and simple affectations of stance and enunciation you are transported to Ben Elton’s and Richard Curtis’ Regency comedy. The re-creation of both Rowan Atkinson with his popping “P’s” and Tony Robinson with his nasal drawl were indeed very keenly observed. So well done indeed to Rick Davis and Simon Alaluf respectively, pretty much spot on. I loved the inflections and mannerisms which combined with their excellent comic timing, which instantly had the audience in replica land!

Mark Stewart wisely didn’t attempt to be Hugh Lawrie but put his own slant on the character of the intellectually challenged Prince George and what a delightfully brilliant performance it was too. It maintained the essence of the character perfectly and if anything enhanced the role, in my humble opinion.

Unusually set using a traverse stage layout (audience on two sides) with a small raised platform at either end, which made for easy but definitive changes of scene whilst giving an additional third useful staging area. The two platforms contained the period furniture suited to each scene: The Prince’s room at court, Mrs Miggins Coffee Shoppe, Amy Hardwood’s House. All worked very well indeed with the possible exception of the fireplace in the royal household which looked a little odd leaning at an angle against the rear lighting rig. Small point, but I felt it might have looked better upright? With a simple but effective lighting rig at either end (designed by Paul Alexander and Chris Chaplin) and occasional sound by Pete Keeley, director Clare Boniface’s cunning plan came together very well indeed.

This was a reproduction of three episodes of the iconic Black Adder the third television series; set in the regency period, each with a Jane Austinesque title.  Ink and Incapability, Nob and Nobility and Amy and Amiability.

Ink and Incapability - tells the story of how Prince George may have looked to Samuel Johnson to sponsor his great book of words and how a simple throw away comment from Blackadder and Baldrick’s lack of common sense and total servitude meaning he will follow any instruction to the nth degree could have changed the English Language forever.

Phil Briggs as Dr Samuel Johnson played a suitable straight foil and the comic touch to use three ladies Helena Adams, Rosa Alaluf and Georgia Gardner as poets Shelley, Byron and Coleridge added an additional layer of surreal humour to the action. Sue Chaplin as Mrs Miggins completed an excellent supporting cast to this episode.

Nob and Nobility - In this episode Blackadder disparages the Scarlet Pimpernel and two ‘’effete” noblemen, Lords Topper (Mike Alison) and Smedley (Tony Lockwood), giving us the best completely barking mad facial expressions of the night, bet him a thousand guineas that he can't go to France, rescue an aristocrat and present him at the French Embassy Ball. However instead of actually going to France he goes to Mrs. Miggins' coffee house to find a French aristocrat willing to pretend he's been rescued. Le Comte de Frou Frou, really Topper in disguise, agrees to pretend he was rescued. However, when they arrive at the Ball they find it has been taken over by revolutionaries and they are thrown into the dungeons where ‘The Ambassador’ (Paul Alexander) gives as good as he gets to some of Blackadder’s best quips…

Amy and Amiability – tells of how Blackadder helps Prince George who has lost all of his money playing cards find a wealthy bride to restock the coffers.  Enter Amy and her wealthy industrialist father.  All however, is very much not as it is seems……

Marie De Greeve played a fine Amy both as the ‘demure bride to be’ and as the dastardly notorious highwayman, ‘The Shadow’ hardly recognisable between the two roles! Tony Lockwood pops up again as her grumpy industrialist father, complete with suitable northern accent and Fran Ross and Charlie Daniels as Sally and The Duke of Cheapside, are melodramatically robbed by the unscrupulous Blackadder as a highwayman.

The costume department of Sue Chaplin and Fran Ross are to be especially congratulated with a perfect set of authentic outfits from a very flamboyant period of history. It is however the makeup by Helena Adams that should be proudest, with an audience this close to the stage it was possible to make out every blemish and dimple and the attention to detail of powder and wigs was exemplary, particularly the ‘dandies’, George, Topper and Smedley.   

All in all an excellent show with a fine supporting cast making good use of the facilities available and doing justice to the brilliant Curtis and Elton script. I like this group’s imagination, it’s a classic village hall society that knows exactly what to do with limited resources and gets the best out of them and as a result, based on the two shows I’ve seen so far, punches far above its weight. Well done to Clare Boniface and her team, I look forward to my next visit in 2016.

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