Hold on to your hats: the cast of Reginald Rare deliver a spiffing boys’ own action-comedy-spoof performance in their cardboard space rocket
BELLA BARTOCK, our theatre correspondent, went back in time to the Coulsdon Community Centre to experience a full-on sci-fi drama in the future
Captains courageous: Michael Ruben (right) is Sqn Ldr Reg Rare
I had Kenny get the Rolls out of the garage. He assured me it is “ULEZ compliant”, whatever that means. In any case, one does not travel to Coulsdon by public transport. I believe the 166 is available for the disadvantaged, but Claudia tells me there is no conductor on the service, and that just will not do.
Claudia de Boozy is my oldest friend from our school days, and she doesn’t get out much these days. So whenever the chance presents in the form of a couple of reviewer tickets for Inside Croydon, I like to give her the opportunity to get her glad rags on again.
We picked Claudia up from her bijou flat opposite the railway station and Kenny chauffeured us to the Theatre Workshop in the little cul-de-sac off the Chipstead Valley Road. “What is Reginald Rare, Rocketeer Extraordinaire all about?” Claudia asked, as Kenny made the final turn into Barrie Close and the magnificent facade of the Coulsdon Community Centre came into view.
There’s a nasty bug going around…: the gags about the Veneerians write themselves
“It is the story of a 1940s pilot who finds himself thrown forward in time to 2015 by the Nazis, all imagined through a filter of 1950s science fiction tropes,” I said.
“I see,” Claudia slurred. “And do they sell drinks?”
Suitably provisioned, we took our seats and immersed ourselves in a parallel recent present in which pacifism and world peace had rendered the world’s population vulnerable to attack from Venus. And no, I am not alluding to STIs, though occasionally the thespians did.
For example, the leader of the potential invaders lived in what was referred to as the “venereal palace”. He was called The Veneer, but he looked remarkably like The Mekon, Dan Dare’s old nemesis.
Hold the line: Chris Argles, as President of the world, and Herr Dryer (Paul Ford, right) offer their scientific input
The spirit of Dan Dare, or Reginald Rare for the purposes of this piece, was ably channelled by Michael Ruben as the hapless RAF Spitfire pilot blessed with an old-fashioned sense of fair play and a noble insouciance in the face of danger, though hampered by the most neanderthal of views. Not that writer Sean Young seemed particularly disapproving.
Rather, he leaned into Rare’s suspicion of Johnny Foreigner by making the head of the 2015 pacifist Earth’s head of military a woman and, worse, a Frenchwoman.
As if this weren’t enough to make our hero choke on his pipe we were introduced in short order to a German, Herr Dryer (geddit?), an Italian with an obsession for pasta and an Australian who kept making references to his barbie, a veritable cornucopia of 1950s-era stereotypes. Claudia could not stop herself from hooting with laughter. Decorum never was her forte, I’m afraid.
We were also impressed with Max Parris as the wittily named Oliver “Oily” Wragg, the hapless underdog of the crew that travelled to Venus on the low-tech cardboard spaceship. He had a few decent lines and, due to his deft delivery, they all landed well.
Deft lines: the production values and attention to detail are a mark of TWC’s continuing excellence
My favourite was, when the ship was in trouble and the lights went out, “That’s not the joystick, miss!” We do hope that he has a bigger part next time…
Also worth an honourable mention was Lauren Edmonds as a revolutionary Venusian (the enemies of the Venereans, who looked a lot like Oompa-Loompas). She did a lot of the heavy lifting during her scenes, bringing comedic depth to the role and wringing every ounce of potential out of her lines. Her bravura spoofing of the braggart Australian character was magnificent and deserved a better audience reaction than the smattering of applause it evoked.
We retired to the bar for drinks afterwards. We’d arranged for someone to take a bottle of lemonade and a packet of cheese and onion crisps to Kenny in the car. We were intrigued to see that the queue for tea was much longer than the queue for Merlot. I can only surmise that some of the regulars are on antibiotics after having succumbed to an attack from Venus, although it was the Sunday afternoon matinee performance.
If you like plays set in the past, this one is for you. If you like plays set in the future, this one is for you. This was not the best play I have seen at the Theatre Workshop Coulsdon but then, as Claudia says, they set the AmDram bar very high.
They played this one for laughs but they are getting serious again next month with Orca (“Truth. Trust. Innocence. Lost at Sea”). We look forward to it. I may even get a ticket for Kenny.
Reginald Rare, Rocketeer Extraordinaire is being performed by Theatre Workshop Coulsdon at the Coulsdon Community Centre, Barrie Close, on March 20, 21, 22 and 23, at 7.45pm, with 3pm matinees on March 23 and 24. Tickets can be booked by clicking here
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Great piece, thanks. How brave of Bella to venture out from ‘her’ leftie neighbourhood into the true blue heartlands south of the borough. We’re grateful.