Dick Barton: The Tango of Terror

I’m pleased to say that I’m (slightly) too young to remember the days when people gathered around the radio eagerly awaiting the next thrilling episode of Dick Barton Special Agent. The Tango of Terror is the third of Phil Wilmott’s wittily written musical comedies that pay homage to the BBC’s 1940s’ radio serial.

In this episode, our heroes try to foil the forces of EFIL (Evil Foreigners in London) who have captured a dossier revealing the whereabouts of Britain’s finest secret agents, Roger and Wilco. Can Jock recover the jewels of his beloved Daphne Fritters and will Snowy remember the crucial piece of music in time to prevent a bomb exploding?

Director Teresa Encke has sensibly divided the stage and extensions into four playing areas, meaning that hardly any scene changing was required and the action could proceed apace. Top marks to the construction team for the excellent set and also to Myrna Coates, Toby Finch and Daniel Finch – who conjured up some amazing props, most notably a very realistic TV camera with working display and boom microphone.

The play is presented as a radio recording, and a good studio atmosphere was created by placing Richard Meeson in DJ on one side of the stage, making his announcements with commendable Received Pronunciation, and the sound effects and other crew on the other side, leaving the centre of the stage area for the action, aided by some very effective graphics projected on the screen. The costumes gave a good 1950s’ feel to the play and were complimented by effective lighting.

Martin Kille was spot on with his portrayal of our hero Dick Barton, all public school and stiff upper lip. His sidekicks Snowy and Jock were played to the hilt by Tony Smith and Robert Haines. Tony was completely believable as the dopey Snowy, constantly struggling to remember the piece of music that would make the bomb explode, and Robert, with excellent Scottish accent, valiantly struggled to find the missing jewellery of his idol, Daphne Fritters, another great portrayal by Rowenna Gordon. Steve Guermonprez played Colonel Gardner with real gusto and won my prize for best ever recovery from a dropped line – in character all the time! Jo Walker was wonderful as Barton’s housekeeper, Mrs Horrocks, especially when she fell for the villain of the piece, Juan el Bigglesworth. In this role, James Batchelor gave a tremendous performance, owning the stage from his first entrance but staying just the right side of pantomime baddie.

The whole play was well directed, and the cast managed to keep up a good pace throughout, despite all the daft mayhem that was going on. Although it was a little bizarre that the characters kept bursting into unaccompanied song, the lyrics were so amusing the songs seemed to fit in perfectly!

Well done everyone involved – it was a hugely entertaining evening that was thoroughly enjoyed by everyone in the packed audience!

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