January 2007
Porridge On Stage
Monday, January 01, 2007 by Mark Thorburn

Adapting well-know television shows for the stage is a difficult task at the best of times, but even more so with a show like Porridge. We all remember the characters created by Dick Clement and Ian Le Frenais, in particular Norman Stanley Fletcher, played by the late, great Ronnie Barker, and the unforgettable Godber of the late Richard Beckinsale, who on earth in their right mind would take on such a task?

With the full permission of original TV writers, Ian Gower and his team did just that in June this year at the Court Theatre in Tring, recreating Slade Prison, with a specially adapted stage play by Ian and colleague, Paul Carpenter.

Ian has some experience in TV adaptations, being solely responsible for the first ever amateur stage versions of Dad's Army and It Ain't Half Hot Mum, performances of both of which were attended by original creator Jimmy Perry and memebers of the casts of the original television shows. Ian had approached creators, Jimmy Perry and David Croft in 2001, via their agents, with the idea of a stage play of Dad's Army. To his delight they were right behind the project and so he began putting together a show based on two well know episodes, The Deadly Attachment which featured the German U-Boat Crew and The Godiva Affair featuring the men of the platoon performing a Morris Dance, which was great fun both to rehearse and eventually perform in April 2002. Subsequently Dad's Army was published by Samuel French, in a version which includes both of the episodes in Ian's original and a third episode, Mum's Army.

The following year Ian, now together with Paul Carpenter, adapted three of the infamous early lost episodes into another two hour show, using the same cast and crew. This show was harder to put together as there is no surviving video of these episodes, so with advice from the original BBC Director, Harold Snoad, the second show went on in September 2003 and was attended by Jimmy Perry. It even included a projected film section where the cast went on location for some external scenes.

Jimmy Perry was so delighted with the achievements of the Court Theatre that he gave Ian and Paul an original script of the stage musical version of It Ain't Half Hot Mum, which had toured the UK soon after the TV show had finished. Ian and Paul immediately set to work on an original type written version with corrections sellotaped in. They transferred it to computer, deciding that while the story line was strong, the songs were a little laboured and too long. They took some scenes and other elements from the TV series and together with some original material knitted it all together to produce their version of the show, once again attended by Jimmy Perry, this time accompanied by Donald Hewlett who played the Colonel in the TV series.

However, Porridge is a completely different type of comedy. Where Dad's Army and It Ain't Half Hot Mum have lots of visual humour, Porridge relies solely on the script and the relationships between characters.

Remembering that Porridge was originally 30 minute episodes, each with their own story line, the first issue was adaptation and for this, Ian and Paul took various story lines and scenes, cut them up and linked them together with some original material into a two hour show.

The show starts in black out, with the infamous sentencing "Norman Stanley Fletcher......” and continues with the train journey to Slade Prison in Cumberland (Cumbria) and the characters of Fletcher, Barraclough and Mackay are introduced. When the lights come up we find Fletcher, Godber and Heslop being welcomed to Slade prison by Mr Mackay, and the journey is complete.

Next, we are in the Medical office where the new inmates are given a "stringent!" medical examination, ending with the immortal lines, MO: "Can you fill that bottle"... Fletcher: "What, from here?", from when the comedy really takes off. Ian and Paul have included a total of 23 characters throughout the show, including genial Harry Grout and his henchman Crusher, inmates Warren, Lukewarm and Williams, as well as old man Blanco (originally played by David Jason) and for the ladies, Ingrid, Fletcher’s Daughter, two prison inspectors and the inmate’s wives at visiting time.

Ian thought that one of the trickiest scenes to pull off would be based on an episode called A Night In, which features just Fletcher and Godber in their small prison cell for the best part of twenty minutes, but the scene actually engaged the audience, as everyone got a real sense of being locked in.

Finding the actors to play such famous characters was daunting at first, but as auditions got underway it was clear the show could be cast reasonably realistically. However, all the cast had to work hard on mimicking the originals and spent many happy hours studying the mannerisms of their specific character, resulting in very convincing performances by all concerned.

The set needed to create a prison atmosphere with two cells and communal area and high up walkways and stairs. Set Designer, Bruce Sherring-Lucas elicited high praise, "Congratulations - the set looks terrific!" from writer, Dick Clement, on seeing photographs.

The icing on the cake (or indeed the salt in the porridge!) was when some of the original characters from the TV series attended a charity gala matinee, including Tony Osoba (Maclaren), Sam Kelly (Warren) and Patricia Brake (Ingrid). They were joined by Jimmy Perry (the co-creator of Dad's Army) and Mary Husband (Costume Designer for Porridge and The Two Ronnies) together with Frank Williams (Vicar, Dad’s Army) and Pamela Cundell (Mrs Fox, Dad’s Army). It really was a star-studded occasion with over £1600 raised for the Iain Rennie Hospice At Home based in the Chilterns (www.IRHH.org).

Tring is a small market town between Watford and Aylesbury on the A41, with an adaptable 200 seat studio theatre on the outskirts of town created from an indoor riding school, once owned by Dorian Williams, the BBC Horse Of The Year Show commentator.

Ian Gower co-wrote Noah - The Musical with Rob Alderton (see Amateur Stage, November 2005), which is now playing in various locations across the country and was premiered in Australia in July 2006 in Perth. In September 2006 he and Rob premiered their new show The Amuse-ical Tales Of Robin Hood and with the agreement of Jimmy Perry and David Croft, Ian and Paul are now re-visiting Hi Di Hi for a new stage version at the Court Theatre, Tring in June 2007.