UNDERNEATH THE ARCHES Undcrncl1fll fli e Arches tell s the story in sketches of two of Britain's moi t pop ulor entert<liners, the loveable, w ich'd Bud Flanilga n and the handso ml', urbane Chl'snl'Y Allen and their i1ssocintion with a group of knockabout conwd i" ns known as "The Crilzy Ga ng". The show

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was firs t pe rformed il t the h icbes te r Fes tjval Theil tre on

Wednesday 29 July 1981. From Ma rd 1 it ~ubsequl'nt l y en jo 'ed a run in the Wes t End at the Prince llf a le' Thea tre w ith Roy Hudci dnd h ri -toplwr TinH)t hy (be tte r knnwn on telev ision in II 'rea tu res Creat and Sma ll ) d!:> Bud and hes. The C razy ang were p layed by Joe Black, Pete r (Cr, ckerjack) Gle1Zc, Tony od ire , Billy CrilY and Don

IllLlothc wi th Juli a Sutton as r lorrie Forde.

It i~ written more as ,1 revue w ilh r"1I1 -~top ilctilll1 ell1el te ll s the b ie s to ry of llud I' lan,lgan il nd hen\' he firs t met C hesnev Allen ,1t Pn pel'insht' during 'World Wilr I iln d contin uin g until thcv joined li p J", a d oubl"' ,Kt. Chesnev Allen ~a k s the pa rt of n ;lrr ,'to r~ ;:t nd is i l1t er;;p~ rsed wi th ip kl's, sketches .111 (11)';5 w hi h the d uo perfo rmed and the time LI p to the ir co ll "bl)rd tion "" ith thc razy 'Illg . C hc:;nL'Y is the stra igh t man ;:tnd Bud is Lhc comic.

Jt ca n be done with a chon!:> of s ix men ctnd twelve l;:tdies, plus seven leading men>~ p;:tr ts, three s lll a ll pr incipill lodies ro les ,m d J te.<lm l)f four to six dctncers.

11112 Illus ic is simple>, most of tl,... songs being we ll- known, bu t ,1Jl til<' numbers ure choreogruphed ilnd SLl

need lots " f rehears ing.

CAST

The P'Hts of Bud ,llld Cl1l's ,H

huge, with Bud on and off s tagl' throughout the show ucting the vilrying episodes of his life, w hil L' Ch es is rare ly o ff s tage at all a lte rnating the na rration with acting his meetings wi th BLld.

There ure also fivc lurge o lder

The Flanagan & Allen Story by Patrick Garland, Brian Glanville and Roy Hudd, in association with ChesneJJ Allen Director and Choreographer Doreen Wylde discusses her production for the Grayshott Stagers.

''',.

generally causing chaos.

We used one experienced member of the Company to combine severa l smaller roks: the Prec ious Man, Sergea nt Flanitgan, the Duke of Norfolk and the man who inte rrupts the World WM If scen~ .

There are only th ree principal g irls' parts, each one a C,l meo but the jo ined in th e ch o ruses where possible.

The o ther numerous small cameo P_Jrts were fill ed by members of the chorus and almost eve ryone was used somewhere fo r thes~.

There is plen ty o f cho rus s in g ing w ith six full choruses and one med" chorus in Act r ,l nd ano ther ~ i x fu ll chort ses in Act. II. Th · C razv Can?; joi ned in most o f the d1;ru se~, w hile the te,l m of dilncers hOld seven d nnc ing spots, plus ~ome

choruses.

These ~tM ted in Ja nuary with on e ni ght per week for the chorus und r~ l evilnt princip'lls 3nd one n ight for Bud, hes, C razy --; a ll g and o the r re leva n t p rinc ipu ls. Th e d '1l1cl'~ w cre choreog raphed and rch t'<l r:,ed sep, ra te ly dnd w ere ti lleci in to the comp,lny during the last month, the show IX'ing s taged dmi ng the las t \Neck in April il nd the fi rst week o f May

We had a Director's assIs tant IVho dr illed the d lOrus in the ir rout ines w hile the Director was unava ililble, w hich worked very welL

It is v ita l to have a rehearsa l bef('l f'<' the dress rehea rsul solely f() r costu mes and speed of changes (see COST NIlS below). We actua lh had this on the Sa turda y aftemno~ (imm ediately before the fi r t week's run) and then, after a short brc,lk, went s tr<l ight into a full n m­through in the evening Jeavi n plenty of time to re-do any dodg~ sections. There also needs to b > . Technical Rehearsal (this was hel on the Monday) separate from tho. main company for lighting, SOlin"

and set changes. .. men's parts to be the Crazy Cang. We did not try to match thcm in looks with the -origina l Crazy Gang b ut they a ll had to be oble to Sing, deliver comic lines with timing <llld be prepared to dress LIp as principa l boys, char ladies <md flower se lle rs. They aiso, especia ll y Che;;, had to be able to mix wi th tip ,ludience, ad Jibbing when necessil ry and

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This Society performs a t tl different venues. The first i­smo ll village hall ~\

performances on Thursday, rri _ and Saturday and we then mm .. a nearby tow n w ith a thea tre t has a large stage, aga in perform _ on Thursdd Y, Friday a nd Sat61 r A different band o f mus ician" used for each:

J

1 - 2 keyboards, double bass

-_

Ind. t'n'

u ght

lo\'ed

~

ere

'!"t! rcussion

2 - 2 clarinets - doubling as hones, trumpet, trombone,

u, keyboard, double bass and sion.

SEENER~

::.use there arc so many changes is minimal. We lIsed rostra

t across the back of the s tage on levels and s ilver slash curtains

Other small('r item s of were ei ther flown in or on by the stage c rew.

pertie~ w ere ,ldded and throughout the running

!he show and , like the sceneTY, was donl' in full lights ilnd

il m(' part of the show.

must be access to the s tage n m the audito riulll ilS Ches offen

...., ·nglcs with the' ilud ience. There ,1 5 ,1 lecte rn in front of the

, roscen ium ilrch on a s tage ,tension st,lge right. This was

u.~l'd for it ''This is YOur Life" type' rrd book w hich had Ches' n.tr ration in it. This had a dual

urpose; (a) the audience could .Ji-tinglIish when Ches was being the ilrrator and (b) it helped Ches ' memory in this huge speak ing part.

In front of the stag-e, stnge left, was .1 representation of il TheMre Box. This need s entrv both from tilt' stilge and from the iluditorium as ~ccess for the Crazy Gang who

A follow spot W,lS also used for scenes when someone came into the aud itorium to save putting the house light up. Search ligh ts were played round the roof ilnd Willis of the theatre during the World Wc.r II scene.

PROP RT ES

These are f'lirly simple with stage furniture being kept as little as possible and easily carried on and off. H and props gave few problems, a lthough our biggest difficulty was to find two sets of box ing gloves and six World War I rifles. The latter needed to bE' robust as they are thrown about the s tage

An added complic<1tion, to ilccommodate one of the script's many joke" is that l' vcry seat in the aud itorium must have a coloured dot stuck under the seat and two seMs need a diffe rent coloured spot on the back'

SOUND

Tlw effects are vitul to this show: ship sirens, thund er and rain, World War I gun fire and World War II Blitz effects <1nd sirens,

They all hilve to sound at a specific moment and som e at a specific bar of music, for examp le when a bomb drops in the World Wur 1I scene.

constantly get into it and beCl)me COST MES part of the audience, Tht' 'box' was

These Ciln ea s ily become itraised above floor level so that illl nightm<1rc as each member of the the audience cou ld sec them when chorus has fi e changes, several ofthey were in it, but it had to be low which flre very quick and areenough not to rest rict th" view of achieved by adding and removingthe aud ience of the rest of the stilgE'. parts of it costume. For example :

Sailor scene - all in w hite with sa ilor coll ilrs

LlGH IN

FDR Jones number - all in white, remove collars, add s tars <lnd stripes waistcoa ts

WWI scene - men add <I great coat ilnd tin hilt

It does work but 11 lot of thought needs to go into the ph1l1ning,

different atmospheres were .;d bv chunging the lighting

. 45 . For eXiHl1plt" ",han ty, dark

Bud must have a personal dresser who is waiting in the wings throughout the show with his next change of costume.

The Crazy Gang a lso need help in their dressing room which ideall y needs to be as neilr the stage as possible.

The Crazy Gang need two different wigs each. One is an outrageous "principal boy" dressed wig, the other is a Char-ludy / Flower seller, Beca use of the speed of the chilnge this wig W<lS

attached to a hilt so that both went on together.

This show will work for ei ther a large or small compa ny and can also be staged on a large or small stage with different sized auditorium.

It WilS very good fun for both the Compilny and the audiences.

The audience finds itself participating from first e.ntering the theatre and soon realises that it is expected to join in. Our audiences did so with gusto! The jokes are non-stop and severa l scenes a re uproariously fu nny. Handkerchiefs were out to mop eyes from crying with laughter; the show had to stop several times to accommodate the laughter.

There were good houses and as everyone left it was agreed there wasn't a better way to spend an evening.

ALL SCRIPTS, SCORES AND LIBRETTI FEATURED IN

"THE PLAY PRODUCED" AND "THE MUSICAL PRODUCED"

CA OBTA1 ' F OM

TEL: 017i-837-5655 FAX: 0171-833-0609

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