Tezza's Theatre Place

LEAVE A COMMENT Dad’s Army is still one of the absolute joys of the television world. Over 9 series, and 80 episodes, we followed the ups and downs of a group of, on the whole, elderly men in a quiet seaside town, ready to put their lives on the line in defence of their country. First transmitted in between 1968 and 1977, the show is regularly repeated on BBC2 on a Saturday night, and still pulls in 2 or 3 million viewers. The highly successful radio spin-off gets regular airings on BBC Radio 4 Extra. With such an iconic show, it might be thought to leave it alone. You can’t improve on perfection – and I’m sure the makers of the recent disastrous movie would concur. However, two men felt there was something more that could be done and last night I was lucky enough to see a performance of the  Dad’s Army Radio Show  at the British Library. The first thing to say is that Jimmy Perry and David Croft’s writing is still as fresh today as it ever was. The three episodes tha...

The War of the Worlds at the New Diorama Theatre In 1938, The Mercury Theatre on the Air theatre company created radio history with a performance of an adaptation of H. G. Wells 1898 novel about a Martian attack on the planet Earth. The effect of the broadcast was profound and has entered the history books creating a story of its own. Fast forward to 2019 and Rhum & Clay have taken the original radio production as their base for a new version of  The War of the Worlds  at the New Diorama Theatre. This 80-minute play, devised by the company writing with Isley Lynn, starts with the infamous broadcast and the wonderful opening monologue from Orson Wells (Mona Goodwin, Julian Spooner, Amalia Vitale and Matthew Wells) themselves. I have to say, speaking as someone that has a copy of the original broadcast, the cast have done extremely well to recreate the sound and feel of 1938 as they go through the start of the Mercury Theatre production. The play is not just a recreation...

A sockful of custard Between 1951 and 1960, once a week virtually every radio set was tuned to the BBC Home Service and families would sit around listening to the madcap stories being transmitted on The Goon Show. At the heart of the show was one man, a comic genius by the name of Spike Milligan. For many youngsters, this name may not instantly draw gasps of recognition, but Spike was a comic genius of the first order and it was a sad day when he died in 2002. However, if you missed him, there is a chance to get a feel for the man with  A Sockful of Custard  at the Pleasance Theatre in Islington. A Sockful of Custard  is the work of Chris Larner and Jeremy Stockwell, two men who definitely know their Milligan. It is not a documentary by any means, but takes the audience from Spike’s early life in India, through to the family moving to the UK, his part in World War II – or as Spike memorably called in in his autobiography “Hitler, my part in his Downfall” – and on t...