When my daughter Stacey asked me if I wanted to go and see ‘Allo ‘Allo on stage, I jumped at the chance – an avid fan for many years, I have all the box sets which I watch regularly and never miss an opportunity to ‘spoke in Fronch when I am at woke’ (Think about it)

Stacey writes reviews of shows on her own website and was invited by Encore Performing Arts to come and review their opening night in the Duchess Theatre Long Eaton. Naturally, she thought it a good idea to take along an ‘Allo ‘Allo expert to help critique the show. You can read her own review on her website www.amessinadress.co.uk

Now, while Stacey has some previous knowledge of the cast members and their previous performances, I had no such experience, but clearly I entered the theatre with high expectations.

‘Allo ‘Allo ran for nine series between 1982 and 1992, so the production team had a wealth of hilarious material to choose from, and it must be hard in those circumstances to decide what goes and what stays.

Clearly you have to have the iconic catchphrases – “Good Moaning”, “Listen very carefully, I say this only once”, “it is I, LeClerc” just to name a few. And to include them, you also have to include all of the characters and we were thus pleasantly surprised to see the size of the cast for a small amateur production.

The show opens in Café René, a very credible reproduction of the original set manufactured apparently by one of the cast members – Terry Stevenson – who plays LeClerc. Hats off to him for his excellent craftmanship.

As is always the case, the show starts with the lead character René Artois, played by the awesome Christopher Grantham, providing one of his ‘René Recaps’. Stacey and I decided early on in the show that the cast must have watched episode after episode during rehearsals because I was astounded by Christopher’s performance of René, capturing not only the mandatory French accent, but amazingly he sounded so much like Gordon Kaye it was easy to forget at times that I wasn’t watching the real thing. His mannerisms and delivery of his regular sarcastic retorts were spot on, and his timing was impeccable. I don’t think I ever truly expect amateur theatre to come up with the goods but yet again I was proven wrong with Christopher’s impeccable rendition of the slightly meek, weary and sorrowful René just trying to make it to the end of the war.

Along side Christopher was Angela Plant, who was spectacular in the role of Edith, and again, at times i could almost hear the unmistakable tones of Carmen Silvera on stage, and I suddenly got very excited when I realised she was actually going to sing for us as only Edith can.

There wasn’t one cast member for whom I could say “Hmmm, not as good as I hoped”, and so bear with me while I mention the rest of the cast –

Yvette, played by Mariko Jones, who I was particularly impressed with due to her staying in character even when just standing in the background behind the bar.

Sian Scattergood-Grantham provided a respectable rendition of Mimi, the vertically challenged waitress with slightly aggressive undertones, which she played so well. I particularly liked them remembering to use the stool and suitcase for the “clinch” scenes with René.

Enter Michelle of the resistance in the form of Emma Collins, who gave another solid performance, from her “listen very carefully” catchphrase to her parting “I leave like a phantom in the night” exit.

One of the best performances for me was the comical LeClerc played by Terry Stevenson, who had the character down to a tee – and again, i found myself forgetting that I wasn’t watching Jack Haig in this key role.

The German contingency was also exemplary – Steve Dunning playing the bumbling Colonel Vom Strohm with ease, and Kheenan Jones providing good support as the overbearing Von Schmeling. But for me, the stand out performances of the night had to go to Harvey Latter, (who gave an uncanny impression of Lieutenant Gruber originally played by Guy Siner) Gabryl Oleshko as Herr Flick and Hayley Wood as Helga.

At this point I have to say, the thing that made it work for me was the attention to detail. Every last mannerism and facial expression of the original cast was portrayed to perfection by each cast member, Gabryl and Hayley in particular, and it was very clear that a LOT of work had gone into this production. It would be oh so easy to simply rattle off the classic comedy lines of David Croft and Jeremy Lloyd with a forced accent, but this production was so much more – you were immediately treated to a nostalgic reminder of a bygone time when comedy was at its best and political correctness wasn’t even heard of.

I haven’t forgot the iconic Officer Crabtree played brilliantly by Stuart Ball, who again captured the original character to perfection, and my one and only slight criticism was the the iconic “Good Moaning” wasn’t quite pronounced enough for me and still sounded more like “morning”. But that’s me just nit picking. His version of “Passing by your Café” rolled off the tongue effortlessly and bought a huge round of laughter around the theatre. One of many I might add.

Maria Lawrence and Abbi Burns played the hilarious British Airmen, and although their lines are somewhat limited (“HELLO”), they still put the effort in and made the characters credible.

Last but by no means least were the peasants who complete the setting, played by Ron Frost, Tom Preston, Angela Walters and Rebekah Street. Every play has to have background characters, and they did the job well – and when all the characters ended up on stage in the final scenes, it reminded us once again of how many people were involved in bringing ‘Allo ‘Allo to life once again.

With such high expectations before the curtains opened, this could have gone horribly wrong for me and left me somewhat disappointed – but there was none of that. The cast did a spectacular job and it is a credit to them that they captured the very essence of the original show, in such minute detail.

There were a few missing elements for me – Madame Fanny and zee flashing knobs, and Herr Flick’s sidekick Von Smallhausen, and of course the rest of the resistance girls – but I understand that the production is following the original theatre script and there’s only so much you can cram in to a single performance.

But I also know there is a theatrical version of ‘Allo ‘Allo 2 and I sincerely hope the cast and production team will take up the challenge and bring us a sequel in the near future. I know they can pull it off with ease.

My final thought. When you know the jokes, you know what the punchline is, and you know exactly what’s coming next before the dialogue even starts, and you STILL can’t help but laugh out loud, then that is what I class as a job well done.

‘Allo ‘Allo was bought to the Duchess Theatre Long Eaton by Encore Performing Arts and runs until Saturday 5th May – tickets are limited, so don’t waste any time, get your tickets HERE.

Disclaimer: Complimentary tickets were gifted for review purposes. All views and opinions are my own.