Dick Barton Special Agent

Tim Schuler made the brave decision to stage Dick Barton in the round.  This had the enormous advantage of doing away with any scenery bar the items that the cast could carry or push on and off (items that occasionally included other cast members).  This meant that the piece could be moved along at great pace without the need for elaborate set changes.  The disadvantage, particularly in a venue like the Ballard School theatre, is that the sound tends to be reflected by the walls, rather than being damped by the audience as it is with the normal raked seating.  I was slightly troubled by the acoustics in the first song, but after that it was fine (either I tuned-in better, or Terry MacQuaid and Shannon Fisher in the control box tweaked some of the balance).

The show is an affectionate parody of the old radio series, complete with Clive Rigden playing a BBC announcer, with floor-standing microphone - at least, when he wasn’t playing Colonel Gardener, Dick Barton’s boss.  Whilst all of the seven actors had a main role, they also doubled as lots of other bit parts, in various states of disguise.  This reached its bizarre comic apogee with Chris March playing not only Dick Barton and Barton’s assistant Snowy (who bears an uncanny resemblance to Barton) but then, with Barton kidnapped, returning as a Dick Barton impersonator.
It’s all very silly, but deliberately so, and carried-off well by the production, with Lotte Fletcher-Jonk doing a splendid turn as the villainous femme fatale Marta Heartburn with P J Stevens as her Baron Scarheart, her manic partner in crime,  On the goodies side, Michael Lovibond was the stoic working class Jock, with Camilla Pillinger employing a fine singing voice as the innocent heroine (and Jock’s would-be sweetheart).  That seemed to leave Martin Pitman playing everyone else, moving rapidly between suit, mask, hats, wigs and the occasional frock.

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