Dad's Army - The Lowry - 13/12/07 by Kashif Naveed

“Who do you think you are kidding Mister Hitler, if you think you’ve won the waaaaaaaaaar … la la la la”. To people of a certain generation those were the words to the familiar theme tune of the popular sit-com Dad’s Army. Bringing the platoon full of geriatrics back for one more performance is Calibre Productions and Ed O’Driscoll as Captain Mainwaring and his motley crew try to stave off the threat of Jerry (but only in Salford Quays mind you!).

This is a production unlike any other. For one this isn’t an updated version of the classic comedy, or an extension of what may have happened after the war or the machinations of another writer who has tried to carry on the spirit of the original. The performances are the actual scripts from the original writers, Jimmy Perry and David Croft (they also wrote Hi-de-Hi but we shan’t hold that against them here!).

The unique aspect to this live stage version is that they have not been performed since the original transmission of the programmes in 1969. Why I hear you ask given that in the subsequent decades since those original transmissions Dad’s Army has been repeated countless of times. Unfortunately not all the episodes aired have ever been repeated. Indeed, there were six episodes that were originally lost, and although four have only ever been recovered two remain missing (indeed, such is the myth surrounding the lost episodes that the fourth instalment of the Indiana Jones series was to have him hunting these priceless scripts down!).

Ed O’ Driscoll has a huge task to undertake if he is to accomplish his dream of creating a affable tribute to Dad’s Army, after all it is held in high affection by its fans and by many comedy lovers. Such are the performances from the original cast that you really do feel sorry for the actors having such mighty footsteps to follow in.

Given that the script and material was from the original source, O’Driscoll and his cast could concentrate on trying to bring to life these lovable characters that we all know so well. Moreover, you can see from the performances of the scripts how hard the cast have worked to get the feel of the original versions of themselves not only from the delivery of dialogue, but also the mannerisms and ticks that made the characters so watchable.

This is evident from so many of the cast. David Warwick excels as the suave Sergeant Wilson, from the silky public school voice, the posture, the traits - no stone has been left unturned. Richard Tate captures the effusiveness of Corporal Jones, Kern Falconer is eerily memorable as Private Frazer, Brain Jackson has a familiar look about him as Private Godfrey and Thomas Richardson is almost as good as the real thing as Private Pike.

This is not meant to be a carbon copy of how it was performed all those years ago, for whilst the performances are excellent they fall some way short of what you have come to expect. Yet, I believe this would be an unfair comparison. What they do is give an almost hazy impressionistic feel to Croft and Perry’s creation, where they are lacking your imagination more than fills in the gaps and makes it truly wondrous.