Blackadder goes forth

I saw this show last night at the Old Mill. It is a ‘Serial Productions Pty Ltd’ production, thus not ‘Community Theatre’ as such, although it would seem that most of those involved are also CT activists. The company holds itself out as being “dedicated to bringing British TV comedies to the Perth stage”. It is always difficult to transition a successful screenplay to suit live stage performance. With television, it is easy to cut from scene to short scene without losing pace. Not so on stage, where every scene change means a blackout and rapid rearrangement of set, props (both warm and cold) and lighting. Also, while each actor is charged with finding his or her own character within the narrative, it is inevitable that an audient, having seen the TV version, will be looking for an impression of their favourites being represented on stage. It is also tempting for an actor to fall into the trap of aping said favourites. In this particular case however, I found that these difficulties were satisfactorily overcome. The script (Ben Elton and Richard Curtis) is strong enough to survive the transition, although I tended to find Blackadder’s frequent metaphors a trifle overdone. The scene changes were executed with precision (great set designs), the pace was good and the actors found their own versions of the characters most of the time. The only time I felt the whole thing dragged a little was in the final act (‘Plan D’), purportedly the writers’ finest moment, although I will refrain from drawing comparisons with Shakespeare.