Cultural Dessert

'Bumper Blyton: Improvised Adventures For Grown-Ups'

9 February 2024

On Saturday we were at the Quarry Theatre in Bedford to see 'Bumper Blyton: Improvised Adventures For Grown-Ups'. Using the model of the long-running improv show ‘Austentatious’ (reviewed here in August 2012) which invents a ‘lost’ Jane Austen novel based on audience suggestions at every performance, ‘Bumper Blyton’ does the same thing with Enid Blyton. But, whereas Jane Austen wrote six completed novels, Enid Blyton published 762 books, which provides fertile ground for exploring her style and genre - and rekindling childhood memories for most of the audience. On our way into the theatre we were handed small schoolroom slates on which we were asked to draw something symbolising a childhood hobby or activity. The cast then examined our chalk pictures to choose several elements to weave into their improvised story. It was all very silly and extremely funny. The many surreal flights of fancy made it feel more like a radio comedy show than a stage play, reminding me of Mark Evans’ stage adaptation of his BBC Radio 4 Dickens parody 'Bleak Expectations' (reviewed here in August 2023). ‘Bumper Blyton’ is clearly aimed at adults, and was not afraid to acknowledge the more questionable aspects of Enid Blyton’s work. Using adults to play young children without disguising the fact they are obviously adults (like Dennis Potter’s ‘Blue Remembered Hills’ - reviewed here in June 2013) also provides opportunities for considerably more innuendo than I remember from reading Enid Blyton as a child. ‘Bumper Blyton’ was great fun and ‘jolly japes’. And as they said at the end: “if you enjoyed the show, please come to see it again: it’s improvised so it’s completely different every night - and if you didn’t enjoy the show, please come to see it again: it’s improvised so it’s completely different every night!”

Labels: Comedy, Drama, Theatre

posted by Robin Simpson @ 11:30 am