Dad's Army

This classic TV comedy of the late 1960s and 1970s was enthusiastically brought to life by Maldon Drama Group with three episodes adapted for the stage. Since most of the action took place in the Village Hall of Warmington on Sea there was not too much lost in the translation to Maldon Town Hall.  In fact the simple staging, using one portion of the stage as Captain Mainwaring’s office, the remainder of the stage doubling up as drill hall and café, with occasional use of the body of the hall for the more expansive scenes, worked very well. Transitions within each “episode” were generally quick although costume changes sometimes slowed the pace a little. The use of wartime music, Flanagan and Allen, for example, as fillers between scenes, could have been used more extensively, especially between the first two episodes when a respectful silence quickly became an impatient chatter. Nevertheless, there was little difficulty in transporting an appreciative audience back to the 1940s. The mixed assemblage of army uniforms was almost certainly appropriate for the Home Guard with few resources and the women’s dress, wigs and hats all seemed to fit the bill but especially that of Sandra Dudley’s Mrs Fox, who was certainly the complete package, costume, character and all.

The beauty of a production such as Dad’s Army is that most of the audience will have enjoyed the original TV series and understood that so much of the humour revolves around the British being able to laugh at themselves. There is something ridiculously funny about grown men as Morris Dancers; Captain Mainwaring’s pomposity; Sergeant Wilson’s weary resignation; Fraser’s dour Scottish stereotype; Pike’s molly-coddled simplicity; Godfrey’s innocence projected through the protection of his sister Dolly; Walker’s wide-boy wise-cracking and of course the endearing Lance-Corporal Jones, especially when trying to remove a grenade from his trousers. Each of the episodes was funny in its own way but the most successful was probably the more visually appealing final episode, involving the entire company, including the women dressed as German sailors.  

Dad’s Army is not high drama but it is certainly entertaining and Maldon Drama Group took us on a wonderfully nostalgic and hilariously enjoyable journey to a time when comedy didn’t require foul language to earn a laugh; true, the political purist may have spotted some anti-German feeling here and there and a distinctly chauvinist flavour throughout. But the clue is in the title – Dad’s Army – and long may it make us smile. Surely George Greenham, in whose memory this production was dedicated, would have enjoyed it thoroughly; I know I did.

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