‘Doodle is a comedy set in 1940 when Britain looks as if it’s about to lose the war. Germany has captured the inventor, a pre Dam Busters Barnes Wallis to make a fiendish device to allow for the invasion of England and a group of selected commandos and decent chaps have to try and get him back. The group comprises a Sherlock Holmes impersonator called Nigel, David Niven and Errol Flynn the well known actors, a Robot called Trevor and a heroine called Weaver disguised as a Cuban cigar salesman called Cigarrrr There are appearances from Winston Churchill, a character called Private Deadman who everyone thinks should be dead, one from my dad Sam Kydd and the stuttering King is in it too. The title was ‘The Heroes of Dam-Busterone’. But it’s now ‘Doodlebuster Heroes’. Actually no it’s changed again. It’s now ‘Fokkers and Tea Cups’! No it’s not! It’s ‘Doodle’! ‘ Doodle the musical! ‘There’s a lot of 1950 -60 film reference in it and it needs to pay stylish homage to this.
Here’s a vid:
We performed the first half hour at the Lost Theatre as part of the Musical Box Festival. The actors did a terrific job and it got lots of laughs. The Musical Director was Sandy Burnett and the Choreographer Eloise Hymas. The producers were me, Howard Vant and Ken Tremlett of JKRovers. We didn’t make it through to the final but I never thought we would as it was a comedy in its infancy. But it fulfilled what was required. The very fun cast was Tom Shah, Fergus Leatham, Dan Collard, Richard Woolnough, Alex Corbet Burcher and Lynsey McQuaid
We did a version of this at the Waterloo East Theatre in Jan 2018 to 2 four star reviews and one three. And a few two! (aargh)
Here are some film excerpts I shot with Joe Greco for the stage show.
Here’s the Press Blurb!:
It is the year 1940. Britain is at war with Nazi Germany. Barnes Wallis the eventual inventor of the world famous Bouncing Bomb as featured in the film the Dam Busters (you know the black and white one where the bomb bounces into the dams?) is kidnapped by the Nazis to build them a Bouncing Submarine.
No one believes the threat is serious (‘A Bouncing submarine? Ha ha ha ha ha ha! Absurd!’) and Barnes Wallis has so far only invented a Talking Robot called Trevor who is rubbish, so nobody, especially the King and Winston Churchill, believes Wallis’s kidnapping should be taken seriously.
Consequently a Z team of not very good misfits including a Sherlock Holmes impersonator, is recruited to go on a secret mission to discover whether the threat is real or just a ridiculous joke. Once they’re on their way it’s discovered that the threat is so serious, it has the potential to lose Britain the war. (CUE HUGE DOOM LADEN CHORD)
Here are some pics of the show!
Below: the excellent Sooz Kempner as Weaver
