Summary
LISTEN very carefully. I shall say this only once. Sit-coms do not work on stage, especially if none of the original cast is involved. The brevity of the form, which, at its best, trades on the absurdity of Sisyphean repetition, won't stretch successfully over a night at the theatre without looking lame. So, putting a cast of leftovers from the world's dullest soap into Jeremy Lloyd and David Croft's onstage version of their hugely successful French Resistance romp was never going to be a winner.
Performed in an exaggerated Franglais falling somewhere between Inspector Clouseau and Antoine de Caunes, 'Allo 'Allo traded on cultural stereotypes to the point that some claimed it to be xenophobic. Relating as much to Feydeau's farces as to Benny Hill, it was doing something far cleverer, so that Gordon Kaye's cafe owner, Rene, served up a fruity slice of end-of-the-pier kiss-chase positively wobbling with saucy waitresses, gay Nazis and stupid Englishmen.See the full content of this document
Extract
Theatre 'Allo 'Allo, the Pavilion Theatre, Glasgow2/5
Indeed, it was British spy Crabtre...
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