Scouts in Bondage - Kings Head Theatre. London

Scouts In Bondage

Writer: Glenn Chandler
Director: Terence Barton
Reviewer: James Higgins

A directorial debut from Terence Barton promised camp fun filled satire. Written by Glenn Chandler, author of the record breaking TV Detective series Taggart this is the second boys own style adventure he has brought to the King's Head after the acclaimed Boys Of The Empire last year.

This time round the setting is 1935 and 1st Little Poddington Scout Troop have assembled at Croydon Airport about to embark on the Adventure of a lifetime. They are to fly Imperial Airways to the Kingdom of Mystic India, a journey some 18 refueling stops away. It all starts off in Jovial mood as the troop say goodbye to their leader and banter with flying ace Captain Curruthers but there is danger on the horizon. Things take a dastardly turn for the worst and before you can say dib dib they have crash landed into the hostile environs of Afghanistan. Soon they realise that they are in a hostile wilderness where friend and foe are hard to tell apart but all seem intent on plotting against the Raj.

The backdrop (designed by Mike Lees) of a map of The British Empire crudely drawn with a line to plot their adventure does the job and also provides additional stage exits. Narration is provided by the talented Mark Farelly who as the Editor of Scout Magazine is fed up with the tedium of his job and the pedantic letters from pestering Scouts. He also seemed unamused with a smug heckler sat in the front row whom seem intent on disrupting the performance. The Editor stayed in character whilst delivering the ultimate putdown: Sir what is your name ? Heckler then replied 'Ian" The Editor then said 'That's funny, Ian ? I looked at you at the start of the show and thought you looked more like a Dick' cue hilarious laughter from the audience and no more unfunny quips from 'Ian'

Stephen Fry provided the voice of the Chief Scout and Christopher Timothy the voice of Kipling. There were very good performances from all the cast with Brage Bang convincing as the sole German member of the troop Henry Schmit, Christopher Finn was entertaining as the blundering Donald Pretty as too was Alastair Mavor as the awkward Lance Featherstone. Dick Greenways (Christopher Birks) made a very good Head Scout and provided a level of seriousness to counter the tomfoolery.

Timothy Welling was excellent playing multiple roles seemlessly as he convinced first as dastardly Russian Yuri Andropovitich then hilariously depicted tribal leader Ali Ban Bagar in a Carry On style send up before returning as Scout leader (Mr Dent)Despite all this it was still Farelly that stole the show, not only thrilling as The Editor with magnificent improvisation but playing the Intelligence Officer (Stiffy Malarkey) with comedic aplomb.

The storyline was good but could have been better for I feel that it had something deeper to say and some of the subtexts weren't exploited fully. There were some serious points to be made about Colonialism, British Imperialism and the ongoing nightmare that is the barren land of Afghanistan where still we have still not learned the lessons from history. This was touched on at the end but in a crude somewhat sloppy way. That said this was an thoroughly entertaining show from start to finish that was laugh out loud funny and full of double entendre and satire throughout. If you find yourself at loose end and have the Winter blues then gather round the campfire chums for a real cheerful tonic.

Runs until 10th January