2007 - 'Allo 'Allo Review
Rene's café, in occupied France,
was bustling on Friday 20 April with a large gathering of French peasants and a scattering of German officers. The clientele was treated to an excellent French feast of pâté, Bœuf Bourguignon, cheese and Tarte Tatin, washed down with French wine and beer.
However all was not as it seemed! For war-torn France was, in fact, a tranquil corner of rural England and Rene's café was Hardington Mandeville's village hall.
This was the excellent evening of entertainment put on by the Hardington Players. The hall was transformed into Rene's café for the evening and members of the Players took on the roles of TV's 'Allo,'Allo well-loved characters. Rene (Andrew Middleton) welcomed everyone to his café and ran the bar throughout the evening. He was, of course, assisted by his saucy wine waitresses, (Tanya Ogden, Karen Clotworthy and Elizabeth Helme) who also provided a brilliantly choreographed tap dance routine for the entertainment of a special guest,
Herr Hitler, who looked uncannily like John Soulsby!
Rene's amorous encounters with his serving girls were interrupted by his wife, Edith (Wendy Simmonds), who also 'entertained' the customers with her hilarious, ear shattering renditions of "La Vie en Rose" and "Sous les Ponts de Paris", ably accompanied on the keyboard by Elaine Peters. Rene not only had problems with his wife but also with a German Officer (David Beckley), who tried to relieve poor Rene of a few francs with some very clever card tricks. Two English airmen (Stuart Ogden and Derek Richards), a very unusual French Gendarme (Dan Wells), and the French Resistance in the guise of Maggs Soulsby, also added to his troubles.
This extremely entertaining evening was directed by David Cleaton and produced by Anne Lunt, ably assisted by members of the Hardington Players.