Pugh, Pugh, Barney McGrew, Cuthbert, Dibble and Grubb

Trumptonshire Tales, Plesance

When I was five years old my father took me to the theatre. There were hundreds of other kids and parents there and, before the curtain went up it was bedlam as kids ate sweets, messed about, needed to go to the toilet and generally acted as kids do. Then the show began and one man, dressed in a wizard's cape and hat kept all these kids enthralled for an hour and a half with only a piano to assist him. That man was TV legend Brian Cant and, at the Fringe this year, my Dad and I went back to see him again.
The five year olds had grown and been joined by other former-five year olds and their parents to hear Brian tell us about his involvement as narrator of Camberwick Green, Trumpton and Chigley. The genuine affection Cant is held in was clear from the opening ovation and hushed reverence that accompanied his every utterance.
As well as copious clips from all 3 series, there was also film of series creator and writer Gordon Murray to fill in some of the background that Brian was not party to and a question and answer session at the end where the excitement was audible in every speaker's voice.
Phill Jupitus as MC occasionally hogged the limelight and there were traces of the Wrong Kind Of Nostalgia of the "they must have all been on drugs" variety but this was all outweighed by Cant's leading the audience through "My Hat It Has Three Corners". A treat for the not-so-young-as-they-were and old alike.

NTW : Too much Jupitus, not enough Cant

JTD : Give the people what they want - "My it has "