Papakura Theatre Company presents the hilarious Blackadder Goes Forth. The fourth and final series in the BBC sitcom Blackadder, Blackadder Goes Forth is considered by many to be the best.
Blackadder Goes Forth is set in 1917 on the Western Front in the trenches of World War I. Captain Edmund Blackadder is a professional soldier in the British Army who, until the outbreak of the Great War, has enjoyed a relatively action-free existence fighting natives who were usually "two feet tall and armed with dried grass". Finding himself trapped in the trenches with another "big push" planned, his concern is to avoid being sent over the top to certain death. The show thus chronicles Blackadder's attempts to escape the trenches through various schemes, most of which fail due to bad fortune, misunderstandings and the general incompetence of his comrades. The aforementioned comrades are his second-in-command, idealistic upper- class Edwardian twit Lieutenant George and their profoundly stupid but dogged batman Private S. Baldrick. Blackadder's nemeses come in the form of his superior, the eccentric General Melchett who rallies his troops from a French chateau 56 km from the front, and Melchett's bureaucratic assistant, Captain Kevin Darling.
There can barely have been a less likely setting for comedy than the trenches of the First World War. Writers Richard Curtis and Ben Elton deserve special plaudits, then, for maintaining their hilarious standards and making this series more pointed than its predecessors; mixing the lighter jokes with a gallows humour in the face of a tragic and harrowing story.
Four episodes of the series are presented. Field Marshal Haig unveils his new strategy to move his drinks cabinet six inches closer to Berlin in Captain Cook; the vicious murder of Speckled Jim and subsequent court martial in Corporal Punishment; several cases of mistaken gender in Major Star; and the poignant final episode Goodbyeee.
Whether you are a newcomer to Blackadder, or a die-hard fan, you won't be disappointed!