Allo Allo - The Lowry Theatre (From St Helens Star)

Allo Allo - The Lowry Theatre

4:12pm Monday 26th January 2009 in Leisure By Jenni Carroll

WAR-TORN France had a lot of characters in it and the majority of them seemed to find themselves in the hapless Rene Artois' cafe.

The unhappily married Rene finds himself collaborating with the Nazis while simultaneously harbouring two British airmen and concealing explosives in a cigar case for the Resistance so they can blow up Hitler.

Not to mention concealing two long running affairs with his waitresses and fending off the amorous intentions of a German officer.

It is non-stop double-entendres and embarrassing cliches from start to finish, as the Germans demand their share of his sausage, the Resistance use his cafe, every second Rene is in danger of being discovered of helping out the other side and being shot.

But the comedy that found fame and a place in the nation's heart on the small screen, doesn't quite translate to the stage.

It is just a little too static and the actors on stage are too tied by their on-screen characters to be able to benefit from the humour available in the script.

But I could have been out of touch, because certainly some people in the audience found it absolutely hilarious.

Herr Flick and Helga steal the show with their tango and again when they appear in Rene's cafe with Flick posing as Hitler and a puppet Goering, but other than that I barely raised a smile all night.

Disappointingly average.