Tudor Players’ Blackadder II – 15 October 2024, Library Theatre

Tudor Players cunning plan to perform three episodes of Blackadder II on a cold dark October evening was a side-splitting success bringing the creation of Richard Curtis and Ben Elton to life and satisfying the itch of fans of the sitcom to see their favourite on stage.

Across three episodes, including my favourite “Bells” (the other two being the equally classic and hilarious episodes Head” and “Potato”) you could tell that everyone involved in the show loved Blackadder as much as the audience and was as committed to and enjoyed being part of the show as much as we enjoyed watching it.

As someone who knows Tudor Players well, when I saw the cast announced on Facebook I knew they could not have cast more perfectly and they more than proved this correctly. The voices, comic timing, personalities and chemistry of Charlie Gascoyne-Thompson as Queen Elizabeth I, Edwina Gascoyne as Nursie and Joe Gascoyne-Thompson as Lord Percy were indistinguishable from their small screen versions.

In addition, the cast seems aware that no-one but Rik Mayall can perform as Rik Mayall and likewise Tom Baker can only perform as Tom Baker, so instead John Moran as Lord Flashheart and Rob Jex as Captain Redbeard Rum made the characters their own with tremendous comedic results.

I must also give a special mention to Siobhan Hible whose talent shone through with her television equal performances of both Kate / Bob and in the next episode Lady Farrow.

Of course it wouldn’t be Blackadder without talking about Lord Edmund Blackadder and his faithful servant Baldwick. Ross Banister as Blackadder continues to shine in whatever role he is offered with amazing stage presence and personality both being faithful to Rowan Atkinson’s version whilst also making the part of his own, whilst Tommy Jones as Baldwick provided many of my stand out moments of the show included his snog with Lord Percy whilst his singing of the closing credits ballads were sung with a beautiful, innocence. Another of my stand out moments involving the two of them and Siobhan was in the prison scene where Blackadder was pretending to be Lady Farrow’s husband.

Behind the scenes I must congratulate the director Joe Gascoyne-Thompson, who unlike his character Lord Percy who would not be able to direct himself out of an Elizabethan paper bag, continued to prove his is equally superbly talented as a director and performer, and assistant director Phil Gascoyne for bringing Curtis and Elton’s creation to the Sheffield stage and bringing the much loved characters out of all the cast.

I must also praise everyone involved with costumes, all of which could have come straight from the show and with highlights including the hats and (Gabrielle would be proud) eye patches from “Potato”: props and set design and construction, especially for my favourite prop of Captain Redbeard Rum’s wheelchair; and those involved in the clever use of the back projection, which worked beautifully to bring Blackadder and Bob’s bromance courting montage to life.

You do not need a wise woman, who is both a woman and wise, to tell you why Blackadder was voted the UK’s second favourite sitcom of all time, and likewise I do not need to tell you why you must see this production, but if you are a fan of the sitcom and live theatre and don’t want to miss it brought wonderfully and hilariously to life on the stage then it will be a cunning plan to book your tickets.