Were You Anyone Before Dad's Army?

SYNOPSIS

Today Arnold Ridley is best remembered as the much-loved Dad’s Army character, Private Godfrey in the BBC TV series.  But that part came towards the end of a long theatrical career and a truly remarkable life. 

Through a kaleidoscope of memory and dreams Were You Anyone Before Dad’s Army? tells the story of a man who experienced much more than his fair share of ups and downs and who rose above them all. 

After the horrors of the First World War and a stuttering start to his theatrical career, he began writing plays, one of which, The Ghost Train, still enjoys immense success. It propelled him from working in his father’s boot-shop in Bath, into the plush world of the West End. There followed a contribution to the movie-making business, which resulted in his financial ruin.

Evacuated from France in 1940, he was invalided out of the British Army for a second time and struggled to find a place in the new theatrical landscape. There followed many anxious years living the hand-to-mouth existence of a jobbing actor until the miracle of Dad’s Army restored his faith in himself and at last provided him with a modest measure of renewed celebrity and security. 

Were You Anyone Before Dad’s Army? draws back the curtain and provides a touching, life-affirming account of one man’s courage and resilience: a true hero (although he himself would certainly have disclaimed that label)!

REVIEW

From the premiere at the Minghella Theatre, Newport, Isle of Wight, August 2024:

“From the opening music … to the extraordinarily powerful end of the play, the audience was treated to a most extraordinary biographical experience … It is a story well worth telling; Nicolas Ridley has done so with love, respect and honesty and Theatre Reviva! have presented a joyous production to the public.” - Cormac Richards, Theatre Plays UK