Spankingly good try at a comedy classic

BLACKADDER GOES FORTH

George Lawton Hall, Mossley


LIKE the World War One soldiers who went over the top, this Mossley AODS production of the stage version of the Blackadder TV series was always going to be on a bit of a hiding to nothing.

How could a company of amateur actors and director hope to match some of the funniest scripts ever created for TV, written specifically for some of the best comedy actors of their generation, and not really changed much to accommodate the different demands of the stage?

The answer is they can’t — but they have, in the words of Lt George, a trousers-down, spankingly good try.

Key to any kind of success of course is the actors chosen to emulate the skills of Atkinson, Laurie, Fry, Robinson and McInnerny — particularly Atkinson’s Capt Blackadder, and here the show reaches its peak.

Nigel Skinner is a little too old, a little too large and, sorry to say, a little too bald to be very convincing physically, but his Atkinson-like vocal inflexions and tone, his weary sarcasm and indignant complaints get better and better as the evening goes on. Likewise the Baldrick of Nigel Winters and barking-mad Melchett of Steve Maxfield.

Not quite so close are Paul Allison as George and Lee Brennan as Darling, though both would be thought good if we weren’t comparing them to the originals.

Comparisons are unavoidable though, whether in the acting or in the general settings, mood and direction.

The sets — trench dugout, trench line and HQ — are detailed and believable, though on opening night sound cue mistiming rather spoiled the famous and poignant finale and the unamplified voices often lost under sound effects.

But where Stephen Mallinson’s direction falls down — not exactly helped by the lazy adaptation of three of the TV scripts into one — is in not being nearly snappy enough.

The scenes are clearly little changed from TV, so with the glorious dialogue also comes the sharp intercutting of scenes which here isn’t handled with very much pace.

The result — at the first performance at least — made the whole thing a little too slow and disjointed, though no doubt this will improve.