Blackadder goes forth into the theatre

BRING A TURNIP: Unity Theatre is about to hold auditions for a stage adaptation of TV series Blackadder the Third. Picture supplied

Instead of running with the satire, Revenge of the Amazons Unity Theatre has a new plan so cunning you could put a tail on it and call it a weasel.

Auditions for (drrrrrum roll) Blackadder the Third will be held at Unity Theatre on Ormond Road this month.

Blackadder the Third is one of the favourite seasons in the series, partly because Hugh Laurie took on the role of the foppish, self-confessed “thick as a whale sandwich” Prince Regent, who only got into power because his father, George III, was bonkers, and partly because writers Richard Curtis and Ben Elton felt the story cried out for the Blackadder treatment.

The stage version of the comedy is made up of four episodes from the TV series in which Edmund Blackadder is head butler to the Prince of Wales.

“Despite Edmund's respected intelligence and abilities, he has no personal fortune to speak of.

“According to Edmund he has been serving the Prince Regent all of his life, ever since the Prince was breastfed (when he had to show the Prince which part of his mother was ‘serving the drinks'),” Wikipedia tells us.

Dave Hall, who has previously directed Blackadder 2, the musical Cinderella, and Ben Elton's excoriating satire, Popcorn, will direct the comedy.

“This has been something I've wanted to do for a while,” says Hall.

“People keep asking when I'm going to do it. People want to be in it. It's such a funny, enjoyable play with so many classic one-liners and it's so cleverly written.”

Hall cites the episode Ink and Incapability, in which the Prince Regent (Laurie) agrees to act as patron for the “fat dictionary” written by Dr Samuel Johnson (Robbie Coltrane). Unfortunately, Baldrick accidentally uses Dr Johnson's manuscript for firewood and Edmund Blackadder must rewrite the dictionary within a 48-hour period. Other characters crucial to the action are a trio of “romantic junkie poets” — Shelley, Byron, and Coleridge.

“Everyone around Blackadder is a fool but he gets stumped at every turn,” says Hall.

The episodic nature of the play means not only are the main roles of Blackadder, Baldrick, the Prince of Wales and other unforgettable Regency period dags available, there are plenty of smaller parts per episode.

•