FIRM favourites Almost Legal Productions returned to Stroud with a stage version of two episodes

from the BBC’s Blackadder series.

With four versions of the period comedy to choose from, Chas Burns has adapted Bells, from the

Elizabethan period, and Goodbyeee from the First World War episodes for this latest enterprise.

The joy of the first half lay in the pin-point accuracy of the copyists, with Olly Ward, Alan

Marshall and Carter Burns outstanding as Blackadder, Sir Percy and the Queen.

The costumes were sumptuous, the casting pretty well spot-on and the pace slick – the only problem

lay, understandably, in the fact that such a faithful rendition lacked any surprises, and Graham

Hock’s Baldrick became memorable by default, for being the one character who didn’t really match the

tv originals.

The second half was a more sombre tale, once again with more faithful copying. I preferred this act,

by virtue of not being so familiar with the original, although I did feel it lacked some of the

slickness of the first half.

A good evening’s entertainment, but I did feel it was rather too much of a good thing: so complete

a reproduction of the classic comedy left me wishing such a talented ensemble would tackle something

more original than a homage, no matter how brilliant, to a tv show.

Jane Leigh