'Allo 'Allo - Marloo WA

I went to see Marloo's current production of 'Allo 'Allo unaware of most of the cast. I knew of at least one and was surprised to see many more that I knew.

As for the show itself ... now I am not very familiar with the TV Series itself having only seen maybe two or three episodes some years back, yet my wife who has many episodes on DVD assures me that the production we saw was very much in keeping with the original series.

Firstly, the good points. Hats off the Alan Morris (Rene), Ted Simpson (Herr Flick), John Bowskill (Capt. Bertorelli), Tracee Royall (Helga), Mellisa Merchant (Michelle) and Martin Lindsay in particular. The characters were entertaining and very memorable. Martin, who is often cast in highly physical comic roles was just as capable as the camp and sexually challenged Lieut. Gruber. Ted and Tracee played the wonderfully stiff, starched and conservative Gestapo agent and his 'concubine' to perfection. John, fantastic Italian and that scene out front, memories of Panto? Mel, I shall say this only once, I loved it, and Alan, you are Rene.

There was a superb supporting cast also, with highlights from Karen Woodcock (Edith) - deliberately singing off key is not easy - Ray Egan, "It is I, Leclerc!" who just kept poping up everywhere - Ken Harris as the English Spy with the bad French Accent Crabtree and the very short lived English Pilots "Jolly Good!" You guys needed more stage time!

That is not to exclude any of the cast of course as 'Allo 'Allo is a real ensemble piece. There were solid performances from Lorna Mackie and Gemma Sharp as the Cafe Waitresses Mimi and Yvette respectively, and Stephen De Jonghe as Col Strohm, even though his accent was not as consistent as his fellow cast members (German is not easy, I know) I believe that is character was still entertaining.

Finally, in the cast list, we have Graham Sharpe who pulled out a rather eccentric, high-pitched, flustered and sausage obsessed Gen Schmelling (although what he was schmelling I am still to work out) along with Murray Jackson and Luke Heath who might need to see a shrink after the season they were playing so many characters.

Technically speaking, I feel there were some minor things that hampered the performance. Firstly, it was on occasion, hard to hear what was being said by the cast. I feel this was due to poor vocal projection and rushed lines. When using accents that strong, it pays to slow down a little more than you would otherwise. This was a minor issue however.

Secondly, I found the play a little laboured in the first half which I feel was mainly due to the script. After intermission, things took off with a bang and stayed that way until the end.

There was good use of the stage with side sections being used for different locals as required, but my favourite piece of set was the roll-on Tank used by Martin as a part of his first appearance. Extremely effective. The best entrance of the show.

Finally, the measure of a good show comes down to the audience, and going by their reactions, they thoroughly enjoyed that afternoons performance. Regardless of what any critic says (including me) it is the audience you are their to entertain and that you all did.

Congratulations to Ann Hopwell (Director) and her team.

Regards Jeff Watkins.