Privates on Parade (2002)
Music by Denis King
Directed by Elaine Heath
Performances: Sat 31st August - Sat 7th September 2002, Bell Theatre
Contents
Introduction
A subversive comedy about an army entertainment corps stationed in South East Asia in 1948, Privates on Parade charts the journey of young Steven Flowers, who is thrown into the Song and Dance Unit South East Asia, deep in the Malayan jungle. By evoking the great stars of the time, from Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers to Carmen Miranda and Noël Coward, he achieves a spectacular rite of passage with a little help from the outrageous Captain Terri Dennis.
Peter Nichols's 1977 revue-style portrait of Army life, set in 1940s Malaya and documenting the frenetically sexual, mostly gay, often desperate antics of a song-and-dance unit, attached, as one soldier drawls, to 'the Queen's Own Middlesex Regiment'.
The show has eleven musical numbers, most of them pastiches of styles of the day, such as "Could you please inform us how we came to lose the war" a homage to Noël Coward, and "Sunnyside Lane" a Flanagan and Allen number.
The play is largely based on Nicols's own post-wartime experiences as a member of C.S.E or Combined Services Entertainments, where he shared a stage with none other than John Schlesinger, Stanley Baxter and Kenneth Williams. The outfit, under command of "stiff-upper-lip" Major Giles Flack, is a performance unit called SADUESA: Song and Dance Unit, South-East Asia. The company is also under the command of an outlandish theatrical queen, Dennis. Together, the unlikely duo of Flack and Dennis have to prepare the troupe for the tour of the war zone. They are accompanied by a psychotic Sargent-Major, who's involved in selling arms to rebels; and a young officer, recently transfered from the Intelligence Corps.
Cast
- Major Giles Flack - Alan Jarvis
- Acting Captain Terri Dennis - Joe St Johanser
- Sergeant Major Reg Drummond - Bob Callender
- Sylvia Morgan - Elinor Morgan-Jones
- Flight Sergeant Kevin Cartwright - Joe Williams
- Corporal Len Bonny - Richard Watkins
- Lance Corporal Charles Bishop - Stuart Flitton
- Leading Aircraftman Eric Young-Love - Andrew Naussbahm
- Private Steven Flowers - Simon Holland
- Lee - Mark Davies
- Cheng - Ying Chan
Crew
- Stage Manager - SM Name
- Lighting Design - Designer Name
- Sound Operator - Brian Fretwell
Reviews
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Gallery
Reminiscences and Anecdotes
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See Also
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References
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