Blackadder

Breathing life into yet another incarnation of that most terrifying of theatrical phenomena - the TV sit-com as stage play - the hardy stalwarts of the Hippodrome this time tackled three episodes of 'Blackadder'. Taking on the second series (Blackadder's Elizabethan incarnation, usually considered to be the most successful of the character's four historical outings) was a wise decision as far as an attempt at popularity was concerned: after all, these stabs at theatrical sit-com antics can just about be excused as an exercise in 'bums on seats', so popularity is pretty important. As always, the dilemma with TV adaptations is the need to decide whether to play the imitation game or try to stamp your own mark on the material: will a production be an attempt to reproduce the cast of familiar characters as closely as possible, or use the material as a starting point to put a different slant on things? Given the staggeringly thin gruel of the material - 'Blackadder' is completely without any discernible humour on the page and only really comes to life (if at all!) via the performances, tailored so closely to the individuals who brought the various characters to life on TV - the Hippodrome gang decided to play the imitation game. In this, rather like the proverbial curate's egg, they were partially successful.

The episodes chosen were 'Bells' (in which Blackadder falls for a girl disguised as a boy); 'Head' (Blackadder becomes executioner) and 'Beer' (Blackadder entertains his boozy friends in one room and his puritan relatives in another) and the structure of the evening worked very well, each episode being followed by an interval. This had the advantage of keeping the feel of the 30 minute TV episodes alive and the extra benefit of knowing that if you didn't much care for the tale in front of you, there was only a half hour wait (and a respite in the form of a break!) for another one.

Heading the cast list as Lord Edmund Blackadder, Darren Williams did a good job of bringing the character to life in the shadow of Rowan Atkinson's definitive performance. Darren's Blackadder was a much more sympathetic character than the TV incarnation, which was most welcome; three episodes back to back in his company was more welcome than it might have been otherwise! Darren did a good job of guiding us through the evening's entertainment and of leading the ensemble on stage. Steve Grist did a similarly good job of Baldrick, the oafish servant who seemed to come across a good deal less imbecilic here on stage than he ever did on TV, which was a welcome change. Josh Hindle gave a great impression of Lord Percy; all the TV character's traits, mannerisms and the tone of voice were spot on: it was just a shame this underwritten character didn't occupy more stage time. Just pipping Josh to the post as 'mimic in chief' however was Holly Fairburn as Queen Elizabeth. Hers was a spot-on reproduction of the TV Queen and helped to bring alive the spoilt brat schoolgirl quality of capricious Queenie. Ken Horsfield brought a safe pair of hands to Lord Melchett and Lindsey Brady was a comical Nursie, completing the royal court nicely. A host of Hippodrome regulars provided excellent support as a range of additional characters across the different episodes: Anthony Brown was particularly good as Doctor Leech and also threw himself into the role of the Minstrel who summed up each of the episodes with a musical ending, just like on TV.

Alas, for me - and the unfortunate nature of such a show report as this means that there's an inevitable intrusion of personal feeling! - the evening wasn't a huge success. In fairness, I'm not a fan of the TV programme the stage show was reproducing, so it was always going to be an uphill struggle for me but there did seem to be a rather weary atmosphere on stage. Again, in fairness, I did attend on the last night but still...

There were some sections of the show which really did work: one thinks of Blackadder's trip to the doctor; the stroll through the gallery of decapitated heads; the farcical dashing about in 'Beer' was well plotted; many elements of the staging and of characterisation were exceptional. However, there were rather too many more problematic moments which didn't make for a fully-rounded theatrical experience: the filmed sequence was very well done but was fairly superfluous and added little; some scene changes seemed to take an eternity; each episode's musical finale probably looked amusing on the page but alas, should have stayed there; the script seemed to contain about as many laughs as 'King Lear'... I could go on but I won't: it seems fairly petty to pick at faults which aren't the fault of the production team or the cast who did their level best to breathe life into pretty thin material. When as immense a talent as Rosemary Osborne can't manage to bring life to the humourless corpse of 'Blackadder', it speaks volumes for the lack of meat on the bones of the script. I've long thought that the danger of TV adaptations on the stage is that the best that can be hoped to be achieved is a rather copycat pantomime where we applaud how similar to the TV actors the performers have managed to be. Which of course predicates an audience having a thorough knowledge of the TV sit-com in question and if that's the case, we could all be happily sat at home watching the real thing if we're of a mind to. You'll have gathered that I have a bit of a bee in my bonnet about TV adaptations, so I'll shut up now!

Despite all my reservations, there was much to take away from this production. The sets were of the great standard we've come to expect at the Hippodrome, costumes were excellent and dialogue came across loud and clear with excellent diction throughout. Rosemary Osborne had obviously worked incredibly hard to bring a spark or two of genius to the thin material she had to work with and the cast had all given their all to the enterprise. That it didn't happen to be my cup of tea melts into insignificance in the face of the enjoyment of so many in the audience which, in the final analysis, is what it's really all about. My thanks to everyone at the Hippodrome for a wonderfully warm welcome and I very much look forward to my next visit. 

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