Dads Army Marches On – Alexandra Theatre, Birmingham

Writers: Jimmy Perry and David Croft

Dir: James Robert Carson

Reviewer: Tabitha McGrath

The Public Reviews Rating:

Admittedly, not being an avid follower of Dad’s Army, tonight’s show was to inspire and ignite a new love for a classic show. However, unfortunately, Calibre Production’s interpretation of the popular show has not persuaded me to re-visit Walmington-on-Sea anytime in the near future.

Tonight’s production, at the Alexandra Theatre, is part of a nationwide tour of Dad’s Army Marches On, a concept thought up by the shows creators Jimmy Perry and David Croft in response to the successful 2008 tour, Dad’s Army: The Lost Episodes. This performance includes four new scripts, especially created by the original writers for the stage, all lasting the half-hour length as if they were for television. It began with Mum’s Army, a story of the oldest member of the group, Private Godfrey’s intent to retire. The second, Branded, involves an unwelcome potential switch in personnel with the ‘enemy’ Air Raid Precautions of Walmington, and The Two and a half Feathers, depicts Lance-Corporal Jones’ run-in with the ‘fuzzie-wuzzie’s’ some thirty years previous. These three stories seemed to lack a certain conviction, almost as if it were unfinished; some elaboration was certainly needed. But the highlight of the show was the Young and the Beautiful, which tells of the introduction of local women into the guard and a short love affair involving Captain Mainwaring. This section of the show produced some of the best acting and the connection between all of the individual characters was marvelous, as well as being really quite jovial and entertaining. It is just a shame that this real sense of enjoyment and skill wasn’t transferred into the other scripts.

When referring this back to the original (and again I must stress I am no expert) it is clear that each of the actor’s had researched their respective characters with intensity. Kern Falconer’s precise pronunciation of Private Frazer’s intense and unique Scottish accent tickled most the audience as it was as if the original actor was there himself, and nuances in stage presence and body language was also impressively seen in Thomas Richardson’s Private Pike and David Warwick’s Sargeant Wilson. Headliner of the night, Leslie Grantham’s (of Dirty Den fame) portrayal of cockney ‘spiv’ Private Walker, did not meet the level of excellent promised in advertisements and programmes, and in comparison with other members of the cast was quite lackluster. The non-regulars in the show were equally entertaining and would probably have slotted effortlessly into the group of regulars, had the platoon been a little more cohesive themselves.

Obviously, trying to emulate the variety of sets expected of a standard television program is quite challenging, however the stage design was simple and effective, with props easily and effectively being moved around by the characters’ themselves to create a variety of different rooms and venues. Nancy Surman’s design is matched with Bob Bustance’s lighting utilises the fairly small stage efficiently.

Even though, I might sound somewhat underwhelmed by the whole show, parts of it were indeed funny. With the expected use of slapstick, puns, confusion and play-on words as expected with Dad’s Army, a lack of certainty and the much-needed injection of new material unfortunately defected what should have been a hugely successful and celebrated tour of a nation’s favourite. Had there been one less tedious variation of ‘Put that Light Out’ it might have been received entirely differently.