18 September 2017

Please note: this news article is in our archive. Articles were correct at time of publication, but should not be relied on for accuracy after the passage of time.

ACE brought another of their signature feel-good shows to Chequer Mead this week with a stage production of Hi-de-Hi! adapted by Paul Carpenter and Ian Gower from the hugely successful TV series originally written by comedy giants Jimmy Perry and David Croft.

Even at the height of its eighties popularity, the TV show harked back to a gentler age when post-war Britain was learning to enjoy life again at fifties holiday camps, and mined the nation’s nostalgia for donkey rides, knobbly knees competitions and the faux sophistication of ballroom dancing as a high art.

And it was good to see all the familiar characters back in action, not least Megan Frazer’s excellent performance as Peggy Ollerenshaw, the chalet maid who dreams of stardom via the acquisition of a coveted Yellow Coat.

Megan delightfully captured all Peggy’s good-hearted yearning for a chance to throw off her humble Lancashire roots – and the demands of her unseen nemesis Miss Cathcart.

And there was real pathos in her joy at succeeding in her ambitions, only to have the prize snatched from her grasp by a (topical) tropical storm in the Caribbean.

Christine Linden Smith made a simmering Gladys Pugh, the Welsh siren tormented by lustful longing for her boss, and showed she had mastered both the xylophone, and an impressively snitty flounce which said nothing, but nevertheless spoke volumes.

Jeffrey Fairbrother is a man out of his social milieu as the former Cambridge Professor, disillusioned by academia and longing to connect with his fellow man as Maplins’ new entertainments manager.

And Steve Gray captured all his dithering inadequacy, and distaste for the more vulgar aspects of camp life while remaining stoically immune to the romantic aspirations of the lovelorn Gladys.

David Burton’s entrance as the crudely humorous camp host Ted Bovis won him an immediate round of applause for his resemblance to the late Paul Shane, who created the role on TV.

Peter Jones as riding instructor Fred Quilly was another welcome and familiar face, while Colin White gave an admirably tetchy performance as Mr Partridge,  the grumpy Punch and Judy man.

At the other end of the social scale – at least in their own eyes – were the delightfully snobbish Yvonne and Barry Stuart-Hargreaves. Played by Lynne Fallowell and Richard Seagroatt, the ballroom dancers were reduced to giving dancing demos to the campers and hated every minute of it – and each other.

The Yellow Coats, ably led by aspiring comic Spike (Keiran Gladman) and Lisa Frazer as sexy Sylvia, added to an evening of plain old-fashioned fun, which saw Ted’s feisty wife Hilary, played by Chrissie White, eventually get her alimony.

Sylvia on the other hand didn’t get to the Caribbean, Peggy didn’t get her coveted coat, and Gladys didn’t get her man.

But the audience left the theatre knowing that none of the three was going to give up on their dreams.

Hi-de-Hi!