Johnny and the Bomb

Published on Wednesday 16 August 2006 02:11

C TOO (VENUE 4)

ONE to divide audiences into Terry Pratchett fans or otherwise, this adaptation is diverting enough, from a young company who attack their parts with gusto. The little English town of Blackbury, where Johnny Maxwell and his by-the-numbers cronies (fat one, nerdy one, idiot and token spunky female) live, is remarkable only for being mistakenly targeted by the Luftwaffe during the Blitz. A gibbering bag lady, Mrs Tachyon, sets off an unexploded bomb, and suddenly her supermarket trolley becomes a time machine.

The gang chance upon it and travel back to 1941, fiddling with the consequences of changing history in best Back to the Future tradition. There's lots of knockabout dodging between eras and even a bit of satire on the racial and gender views of 65 years ago. But, oddly, the full ramifications of attempting to save victims of the bombing are ignored in favour of a neatly packaged ending. Aimed at young teenagers, this play fails to pursue its own logic, though Bigmac, the idiot, almost gets shot as a spy. Which is quite fun.

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