Dad's Army

~~There was a very friendly atmosphere from the moment that you walked into the school, the cast were dressed in costume selling raffle tickets and programmes and the hallway was decorated nicely. It was fitting that RMDS had chosen to perform Day’s Army being 70 yrs since the end of World War II. The show itself is based on the classic comedy episodes from the BBC that everyone knows and loves.
With that in mind you wonder how or who can play these well known characters. This is where Rosemary Guy (director) and Charlotte Hockey (producer) got it spot on with an excellent casting. Malcolm Hawker played the wonderful (Captain Mainwaring) rarely off stage keeping the troops in order with great comic timing, along with John Daniels great portrayal of (Sergeant Wilson). Richard Bennett is superb as (Lance Corporal Jones). John West was great as (Private Godfrey), Ethan Wilkinson played ‘You Stupid Boy’ (Private Pike) wonderfully, and Matthew Elward played the wheeler dealer (Private Walker), but for me Peter Ansell played an excellent (Private Frazer). The rest of the cast were also very good I also liked Ian Rix playing both the (U-Boat Captain and Mr Gordon) and Steve Russell (Chief Warden Hodges) and Janet West was a wonderful (Mrs Fox). The reaming company played the other Platoon members, Germans and ladies from the village added some glamour.
The laughter was loud and the audience enjoyed every minute, I should also mention the ‘Walmington-on-Sea Town Band’ playing the well known theme tune ‘Who do you think you are kidding, Mr Hitler’ and a sing along with the audience in the interval was a nice touch. 
The set was very good with the main stage as the village hall, with the office on one side with the café on the other this worked very well with the different scene changes. The hair and costumes were very good, and the whole cast looked like they were enjoying every minute just like the audience.
Well done to all evolved.
 

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