Blackadder Goes Forth staged at Sunderland's Royalty Theatre as its new season opens

Sunderland’s oldest community theatre has begun its 2019-20 season with a comedy classic.
Royalty Theatre is staging BlackadderRoyalty Theatre is staging Blackadder
Royalty Theatre is staging Blackadder

Now in its 95th season, Royalty Theatre is staging Blackadder Goes Forth all this week until Saturday, September 28.

Adapted by Matthew Hope from the original scripts by Ben Elton and Richard Curtis, the play covers four of the six episodes of the 1989 sitcom, set during World War I. Captain Edmund Blackadder finds himself stuck in the trenches with the upper-class Lieutenant George and the inept Private Baldrick. Blackadder’s numerous attempts to escape the trenches are forever hampered by the pompous General Melchett, and the latter’s sycophantic sidekick Captain Darling.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The cast stars Royalty newcomer Jacob Hughes as Blackadder, with Alex Goodchild as George and Lee Wilkins as Baldrick. John Appleton and Andrew Barella co-star as Melchett and Darling respectively.

The TV series, which starred Rowan Atkinson, Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie, is often rated as one of the best of all time, and is noted for its poignant final scene.

The play’s final show coincideswith the 30th anniversary of the sitcom’s television debut.

Blackadder aired on BBC1 from 1983-1989. In 2000, the fourth series, Blackadder Goes Forth, ranked at 16 in the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes, a list created by the British Film Institute. In a 2001 poll by Channel 4 Edmund Blackadder was ranked third on their list of the 100 Greatest TV Characters. In the 2004 TV poll to find Britain's Best Sitcom, Blackadder was voted the second-best British sitcom of all time, topped by Only Fools and Horses. It was also ranked as the 9th best TV show of all time by Empire magazine.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Founded in 1925, The Royalty Theatre produces at lease seven plays per season.

Tickets for regular season shows are £8/£6.50 in advance, £9/£7.50 on the night and they can be booked via www.ticketsource.co.uk/royaltytheatre or on 0333 666 3366.

Group bookings for parties of 10 or more can be arranged via [email protected].

Related topics: