DICK BARTON - SPECIAL AGENT. To 4 November.

Keswick

DICK BARTON - SPECIAL AGENT
by Phil Wilmott

Thetre By The Lake in rep to 4 November 2005
Mon-Sat 8pm Mat 17 August, 7, 28 Sept, 19, 29 Oct 2pm
Audio-described 8 Oct
Runs 2hr 10min One interval

TICKETS: 017687 74411
Review: Timothy Ramsden 12 August

A 40s parody in 2005 - is this the play-land that time forgot?This show started life at Christmas in the tiny Croydon Warehouse, where it spawned 4 sequels because, I can only assume, it went down well among the turkey, pudding and seasonal spirits. And, in a small space, proximity sucks an audience into collusion with actors. Certainly in the warm light of a Keswick summer, and on a main stage, the piece doesn't hold up.

Wilmott's an inventive director, but having seen this and his version of Treasure Island within a week, it seems he writes dialogue and routines for his direction to exploit.

There seems little point in parodying this long-running late 1940s wireless serial thriller. Its square-jawed attitudes are long gone - and not particularly relevant with the intermingled societies of today. Back in the early 70s, when it was still just about possible to mock the old-value spy stories because some people still held to their values, a group called Low Moan Spectacular went further, in half the time, with their Bullshot Crummond.

Not that that's around for today's audiences. But as this story proceeds, it becomes clear Wilmott has no ace up his script's sleeve to equal Crummond's climactic fight between hero and villain, played by the same actor.

Nor, for all the phallic foreplay on Barton's forename, is there anything to equal the hilariously pointed single reference to 'Dick' in Willy Russell's ShirleyValentine.

Scattered points hit the mark - the cliff-hanging moments that frame the play, the play on Barton's self-awareness of himself as a wireless hero, and the best scene where the expressive Stephen Ley replaces spiked-helmet (itself a generation of villainy out) for landlady's drag, crooning along oblivious to Barton's desperate attempts to enter home via a 1st-floor window.

That apart, it becomes clear during the first act (which drags in more than the dress sense) there's little hope of any sudden inspiration. Overall the 2nd act is no better, just slightly longer. The desperate attempts to breathe life into tired ideas become ever more apparent despite the strong cast's efforts.

No play's made, for example, with the sole female cast member's double as pallid English Rose and German temptress in a German cabaret (whose resident composer seems obsessed with The Gondoliers).

Ian Forrest's production strives hard on Martin Johns' giant wireless-set stage. And Martin Fisher's Barton captures precisely the period's look and acting-style; sharp detail within a generally rigid frame. Fisher excellently distinguished Barton from the pseudo-Barton of his sidekick disguised as the master. It's a super central performance; pity about the play.

Sir Stanley Fritters/Lady Laxington/MC: David Alcock
Jock Anderson: Darrell Brockis
Dick Barton/Snowy White: Martin Fisher
Baron Scarheart/Mrs Horrocks: Stephen Ley
BBC Announcer/Colonel Gardener: Sam Newman
Marta Heartburn/Daphne Fritters: Aimee Thomas

Director: Ian Forrest
Designer: Martin Johns
Lighting: Nick Beadle
Sound: Andy Bolton
Musical Director: Richard Atkinson
Choreographer: Lorelei Lynn
Dance Captain:Aimee Thomas
Assistant musical directors: David Alcock, Sam Newman

2005-08-14 19:09:17