Blackadder the Third

Everyone’s favourite Georgian sit-com (are there any others?!) received a warm and obviously heartfelt airing at the Civic Theatre and a good sized audience enjoyed every minute. Taking four episodes from the popular TV series and staging them live is a tricky proposition and given my longstanding disapproval of the very idea of bringing hoary old sitcoms into the theatre at all, I have to say that I approached the evening with a certain amount of trepidation. This production was in support of the Comic Relief charity and the episodes were chosen and adapted by the director, Erinn Bâtard who must have worked very hard to bring the small screen to the stage as it’s never easy to suit the demands of one medium to the needs of another. Regular readers of my humble scrawlings (all three of you) will be aware of my irrational loathing of TV sitcoms turned into plays for the stage and the problems that such enterprises always bring along with them: these issues were once again in evidence at the Civic with ‘Blackadder’. There is always the twin dilemma of either slavishly reproducing - via a series of razor sharp impersonations - the TV original, or reinvent the TV show afresh to suit the talents of the performers on stage. The first option brings with it the problem of always falling a distant second place to memories of the TV original and the second option has the unfortunate effect of making one wonder why another production altogether wasn’t decided upon in the first place. There’s the ‘bums on seats’ factor to consider of course but it does seem a shame that modern audiences can apparently only be tempted away from their television sets and into a theatre for a live interpretation of something they’ve already watched on the small screen: familiarity breeding contempt perhaps...? One shouldn’t be too harsh on this production at the very outset however, as there were some sterling charitable motives at work here with ‘Blackadder’ being presented in support of Comic Relief. Four episodes were chosen for our edification and the whole cast really threw themselves into the enterprise with relish.

The central quartet of characters who featured in all of the ‘episodes’ (we’ll stick with episodes I think, rather than scenes or acts) certainly had a lot resting on their shoulders as between them, they were hardly off the stage, Blackadder and Prince George in particular. Richard Quinn was a very earthy and forthright Blackadder who made the role very much his own, bringing a more cynical and practical edge to the character. If there was something of the ‘Northern know-it-all’ about his performance, it suited the character of the wily Blackadder quite well, while adding occasional flashes of vulnerability. Matt Brooks made for a suitably idiotic Prince George, really ramping up the cloth-headed public schoolboy side of the character. Clare Highton was a delight as Baldrick, bringing real warmth and subtle humour to the role and was a standout performance for me. Joyce Teasdale completed the foursome as Mrs Miggins and was as suitably down to earth and jolly as was necessary for the pie shop proprietor. 

The rest of the cast filled a variety of roles throughout the evening - with varying degrees of success - and the enthusiasm which bounced across the footlights was very refreshing. One of the highlights of the production was the way that it gave the opportunity for a number of performers to demonstrate their versatility in different roles over the course of the evening. Malcolm Binns was a treat as Mr Vincent Hanna (sadly missed king of the by-elections who appeared as himself in the TV episode ‘Dish and Dishonesty’), a delight as the overblown actor Mr Mossop and a wonderful Samuel Johnson. Even better was John Dewhurst’s marvellous confident couple of turns on stage as wildly pompous actor Mr Keanrick and hilariously blunt Northerner, Mr Hardwood. A handful of wonderful character roles from two performers at the top of their game. The rest of the supporting cast filled a number of smaller roles through the four mildly humorous tales, including the peerless Lesley Jackson who popped up all too briefly as unsuccessful candidate Ivor Biggun to most amusing effect.

It seems redundant to go through in any detail the plots of all four episodes, as the discerning viewer will have a good idea of Blackadder’s eternally thwarted machinations already. The episodes were well chosen to give a good flavour of the sit-com and showed as much variety as was possible, given the rather inevitably repetitive nature of the enterprise. One episode per week was more than enough for my taste when the series was broadcast originally: four episodes back to back was to my mind over-egging the pudding a little. Another problem with the structure of the evening’s entertainment was the fact that each half hour episode was self-contained and therefore, could offer no development arc over the course of the evening. Of course, given the nature of the enterprise, this was self evident - it was after all what the show intended to do - but again, I did find it quite repetitive. I would have preferred three episodes rather than four, with two shorter intervals between each one, making for a more relaxed evening’s entertainment.

Sets and staging were well presented with lighting used very successfully to highlight the relevant playing areas and costumes were a treat across the board (nice to see so many pairs of football socks being used for a more culturally useful purpose than gracing the legs of those overpaid show-ponies people seem to fawn over on the football pitches) with some rather nifty wigs thrown in for good measure. Barring a few exceptions, things moved along at a good pace without being too laboured and the couple of prompts needed didn’t hold up the action to any great extent either. The most interesting and varied tale in terms of its plot and the various settings required in the story - ‘Amy and Amiability’ - was wisely left until the end to give a confident finale, finishing on a high note. As ever with entertainments of this nature, the structure of the evening is half the battle and Erinn Bâtard chose well here. 

All in all, this was a solid attempt to recreate the TV favourite on stage and the members of the audience certainly seemed to be enjoying themselves. Fortunately, there were only occasional outbreaks of the curse of the TV-to-Stage adaptation (where those on stage seem to be having a whale of a time and the audience sit there very conscious of the fact that they’re playing the part of merely facilitating the actors’ enjoyment) and the evening was on the whole a successful one. 

My thanks go to all at Oswaldtwistle Players for your kind invitation and generous hospitality and I look forward to the next production with interest.

 

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