Worzel Gummidge – The Musical, at Trinity Theatre, Tunbridge Wells

Worzel Gummidge: The Musical

Trinity

Tunbridge Wells

After more than 20 years out of the public eye, the world's most mischievous scarecrow is about to be introduced to a whole new generation.

Worzel Gummidge, the naughty, greedy, yet always loveable resident of Ten Acre Field, has got himself a new singing head for a three-week run of his own musical at Trinity Theatre.

Created by novelist Barbara Euphan Todd in 1936, Worzel featured in a popular series of books which were adapted for television. That series, starring Doctor Who actor Jon Pertwee as Worzel and Una Stubbs as the cold and aloof fairground doll Aunt Sally, was a massive hit and regularly attracted an incredible 18 million viewers.

Actor Lawrence Brown, who plays the title role, says this musical version of the story will delight every member of the family.

"It's classic British family entertainment," he says. "Children will love it because it's brand new to them, parents will love it because it has that pop cultural reminiscence factor from their own childhood and grandparents will love the nostalgia of having sat and watched it with their children."

With his frequent declarations of love for "a cup o' tea an' a slice o' cake", Pertwee's portrayal of Worzel etched itself indelibly on the national consciousness. Lawrence says the Pertwee approach is the only way to play this much-loved character.

"Caroline Fenton, who is playing Aunt Sally, is a doing a fantastic Una Stubbs, but I've come to the conclusion with Worzel Gummidge that it is a very tricky act to follow. It's not like James Bond where you have a series of actors to take bits from, there is only one bloke there. You don't want to do a complete carbon copy, you want to bring something to it yourself. Going back to that character and making him appeal to the young ones without upsetting the old ones is going to be interesting."

Now 37, Tunbridge Wells native Lawrence was a child when Worzel was at the peak of his TV popularity between 1979 and 1981. He rediscovered the show when he chanced upon some old video tapes in a charity shop earlier this year and found his own young children loved it.

"My children sat there choosing to watch that old VHS of Jon Pertwee doing Worzel Gummidge instead of whatever's on ITV or BBC. They sat there glued to them again and again. They love the cream cakes and bun fights and the ridiculous language.

"Nowadays television programmes are edited so rapidly that it doesn't require any attention span. This is such a charming story and it requires their imagination. It's not about effects, it's about comedy, farce and some really cheeky characters."

Lawrence's research turned up the existence of a musical version of Worzel Gummidge which was created by the television series' writers Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall. The show ran for nine months at Birmingham Repertory Theatre in 1981 in a production starring both Pertwee and Stubbs.

It tells the story of how an ordinary scarecrow is brought to life by The Crowman and goes on to create havoc and farce wherever he goes in his frenzied efforts to win Aunt Sally's unwilling hand.

Donning a different head for whatever he is trying to do, Worzel soon finds himself before the scarecrow court on a very serious charge before all ends happily with a birthday cake enormous enough to satisfy even Worzel's appetite.

As Father Christmas also makes an appearance at the scarecrow's ball, professional actor Lawrence suggested Trinity Theatre and Tunbridge Wells Theatre Club stage the show during the pantomime season. They jumped at the chance.

"I brought it to the table, the script, the video, everything and said with huge enthusiasm 'you should look at this, you and your children. If they don't like it we won't do it'. And they just said 'brilliant, you can do it then'. It's a country thing as well, and as Tunbridge Wells is such a lovely rural town it seemed right."

And it seems Trinity is not the only organisation to recognise the time is right to bring Worzel back.

"About two weeks ago there was an announcement that the rights have been re-bought and they are going to remake it for TV. Maybe I should throw my head in the ring for the role?"

By Oliver Frankham

Monday December 8 to Wednesday December 31 at various times

Schools performances December 8 to 12 and December 16 to 18

Tickets £12.50, concs £10.50, family ticket £40, schools price £8 (one in 10 free)

Phone 01892 678678 or book online at www.trinitytheatre.net