With the bare bones of a plot that Baroness Orczy would recognize, in this version the dashing swordsman, Sir Percy, swaps his original calling card of a red flower (scarlet pimpernel) for a picture of a pimply nose. As with the Baroness’s original – and many a super hero after – the fearless Sir Percy assumes the guise of the meekest of men; in this case the most foppish of poodle lovers.
The cast go at it with gusto, delivering some fun characters that are pitched cleverly at a young to middlin’ audience. The Pimple himself (Emile Clarke) is a veritable chameleon, equally at home in the persona of the frothily bewigged dandy as he is the swashbuckling daredevil of his real self. Pitched against him as villain is that staple of ghastly movements the world over, the true believer. Chauvelin (Dominic Allen) a true son of the revolution hates aristo’s almost as much as he hates poodles and revels in a little (or rather a lot of) decapitation before breakfast – and indeed the rest of the day. In fact he quite forgets how many and whose heads he has delivered to the guillotine. Determined to put a stop to the Pimple’s good works he crosses the Channel to England where he blackmails the wife of the Pimple, Margueritte (Laura Matthews) a Frenchwoman unaware of her husband’s true identity, by threatening the life of her brother. She of course agrees, later realizing her mistake when she finds out who her husband really is and sets off to France to warn him that Chauvelin is on the way.
With the action toing and froing across the Channel (I wasn’t always clear where we were) writer, Christopher William Hill, serves up all the jolly Anglo-French clichés you could possibly want. Under directors, Emma Earle and Joe Hufton these are delivered unabashed in a Monty Python-Black Adder-‘Allo Allo mash with a dash of panto for seasonal good measure. The Pimple’s enthusiastic, but slightly incompetent helper, Sir Andrew (Dan Wheeler) is the opposite of a master of disguise. He falls in love with the newly rescued, poodle-loving aristocrat, the sparkling Suzanne (Philippa Hogg), who reciprocates.
If we’re being picky (as reviewers we must) we’d have to say the production is overlong, losing its narrative thrust at times and so letting the excitement of the chases ebb instead of build. There are none of the ‘look behind you’ moments of anticipation that keep young audiences engaged and on the edge of their seats. However with fights, chases, wonderful costumes, intrigue, disguises and a little romance there is a lot to celebrate in this production, which maintains the high standards of The Egg Christmas shows.
★★★★☆ Graham Wyles 13th December 2018
