Dad’s Army brings laughs and nostalgia to Market Drayton stage - review

Who do you think you were kidding, Mister Hitler? As the audience joined in the theme tune from the ever-popular 1968 sitcom Dad’s Army, the Festival Centre curtain opened to a warm rush of nostalgia. Never mind Walmington-on-Sea Home Guard, Adolf – what about Market Drayton Amdrams?

Lifted from the TV originals, four episodes of Dad’s Army live on stage were an ideal showcase for what Amdrams could achieve: loveable characters, excruciatingly comic plotlines and laugh-out-loud one-liners. The entire cast pulled it off with an aplomb which would have done Captain Mainwaring proud.

An opening drill in full battledress displayed the platoon in all its glory. Adrian Corney’s Sergeant Wilson diffidently rolled his eyes, while Robin Perry’s Corporal Jones never flinched as he executed each order a beat behind the rest of the squad. Matt Baker’s cosseted young Pike fearlessly deployed his mother’s authority in refusing to take off his scarf.

Rupert Adcock was an impishly cheeky black-market wide-boy Walker, hiding a half-bottle of knock-off liquor in his breast pocket. Andy Wilson mastered the accent of dour Scot Fraser and convincingly doomed all with his gothic eyebrows. Graham Richardson captured Godfrey’s stooped posture, hesitant walk and soft-spoken delicacy to a T.

The role of Captain Mainwaring fitted Jon Edwards like a glove. Bossily pompous but ever patriotic, Edwards was clearly enjoying himself. However many hours he had spent watching Arthur Lowe’s original, he managed to make the part his own.

The first episode – the one where they guard a shipwrecked U-boat crew overnight – showed the platoon at its most characteristic, with full deployment of the famous catchphrases. Pike (‘You stupid boy’) gleefully took the Tommy gun to guard their prisoners, but repeatedly grumbled when ordered up a stepladder to do so. Wilson nervously chided Mainwaring: ‘You’re not going to do anything rash, are you, Sir?’ before disobeying orders and cautiously priming grenades with dummy detonators. And Corporal Jones (‘They don’t like it up ’em’) finally got one of the said grenades down the back of his pants, if not quite up ’im.

The following two acts, ‘Mum’s Army’ and ‘The Godiva Affair’, opened up opportunities for the female actors. There was competition afoot as Mainwaring, keen to raise £2,000 at the town carnival to buy a Spitfire, organised his men into a troupe of Morris dancers. The women, meanwhile, were organising a Lady Godiva tribute to Coventry. Cue ‘stripping the Lewis gun’ getting mixed up with ‘stripping for audition’.

The fine sets were admirably complemented by period tunes played on stage by accordionist Gareth Bowen during scene changes.