Dad's Army

“Who do you think you are kidding...?”. Tiverton Dramatic Society were the kidders tonight and the auditorium (full to over-flowing) were happy to be kidded! Always a tricky gamble to choose such beloved characters, our cast of uniformed buffoons pulled it off nicely, striking the right balance between nostalgia and laughs. First impressions were very well thought out with the foyer awash with memorabilia from Tiverton’s war years - posters, photographs, grenade cases and even a large screen playing back wartime footage. Add to that an auditorium air raid shelter covered in camouflage netting and a whopping great Union Flag and the scene was set perfectly - we could even pop to the NAAFI for a cuppa in the interval! The show was structured around 3 TV episodes and finished with a recreation of the Floral Dance as performed for ‘Christmas Night with the Stars’ in 1970. The opening episode “Deadly Attachment” was the strongest by far and had the audience in stitches - loved the chaos around the Nazis’ escape when the Tommy Gun went off and brought down the ceiling in big chunks! The characters came across well, with faithful recreations from the principles. Mainwaring was a bundle of energy, ricocheting from situation to situation and leaving chaos in his wake while his second in command was perfectly casual and light, echoing John Le Messiur’s portrayal. Godfrey was wonderfully underplayed, although his soft tone was a little difficult to hear from the auditorium at times. The same could not be said for the powerful Scottish bark from Fraiser who made his presence known with gusto!

In the second episode, ‘The Godiva Affair’, he really found his stride with a great phone call, during which he played to the audience very well with knowing winks and even a little heckling (although that’s normally meant to happen the other way round!). Sporting the thinest moustache ever, Walker was the epitome of laid back charm, producing bottles of whiskey from various hiding places. Pike was the perfect re-creation of Ian Lavender’s ‘stupid boy!’, living under the constant scrutiny of his mother. Lastly came Jones. A little judicious ageing was required here and the whitewash was laid on thickly to summon up the look made famous by Clive Dunn. This incarnation of Jones was just as manic and ready to attack anything that moved with a physical comedy that kept the laughter rolling. ‘The Godiva Affair’ introduced some ladies to the cast (including some excellent horse box work!) but had less pace than the first episode. Visually it was great though, especially with the addition of the Morris Dancing outfits and Wilson’s huge horse costume. I did start to become aware of an increasing amount of corpsing, which I always find a controversial subject. With my director’s hat on I don’t like it because it drops the audience out of the moment of the performance and it can take time to re-absorb them - but as an audience member I still laugh. So my rule of thumb is once can be forgiven, but any more and you’re in danger of making a farce out of the script. Even if it’s meant to be one. A farce that is.

Into the third episode and we are presented with a more poignant story, particularly from Mainwaring’s perspective, as the ladies of Walmington-on-Sea sign up to become ‘Mum’s Army’ and he falls for the attractive and demur Mrs Gray. The episode ends in a subdued manner as Mrs Gray leaves Mainwaring behind for a new life in London. Sigh. This episode wasn’t as slick as the others and needed drilling in a few places where dialogue was falling apart a little, causing the episode to drag in places. Rounding up our evening was ‘The Floral Dance’. A great way to end the performance on a high, as Mainwaring attempts to conduct his men, the ARP and the townsfolk in a rendition of the Cornish (and Wogan) classic. A little slow to get started, it soon barrelled to a climax with the whole cast raising the roof in chorus. We had an interesting extra performance element added to the night through the vocal stylings of ‘In Harmony’, a vocal trio (just a duo this night) who sung songs from the 40’ and 50’s which helped to help cover long scene and costume changes as well as add to the wartime ambiance (except for the modern microphone). From their spot up above the stage they delivered some harmonious versions of ‘Don’t sit under the appletree’ and ‘It don’t mean a thing’, to name but two. These were nice interludes, but were so frequent they began to interfere with the storylines, to the point that it became difficult to know when one story ended and another started. All in all this was a great night’s entertainment, with plenty of laughs and nostalgia for everyone - plus a great attention to detail with the dressing of the venue!

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.