Emil and the Detectives

Weymouth Drama Club’s youth section – Curtain Raisers - tackled a large-scale production of ‘Emil and the Detectives’ with energetic good humour and a professional approach. This very young company had the many scene-changes and cast movements off pat, involving everyone on stage and off, so that the whole show was slick and well-presented: many an adult group would benefit from seeing how they dealt with the logistics of presenting a market scene, a railway station and train, a café and nightclub, not to mention the frequent riding of a bicycle around the stage, so full marks for working together.

Equally impressive was the approach to learning the dialogue, so that we heard no prompt all evening, with particularly clear and expressive delivery from Pony, Tuesday, Emil and Mrs Wirth. There were one or two characters who would benefit from working on diction and projection, bearing in mind that radio-mics amplify the voice, but cannot clarify it. The sound system can also lose the direction of sound, so make it visually clear who is speaking, to help the audience keep track.

Crowd scenes were bustling and there was some nice characterisation; the opening musical trio were great fun, as were the hotel commissionaires and bell-boys and the stalking detectives. Rarely off-stage and working his socks off, Emil’s character held the attention throughout. Solo performances from the nightclub singer and Silent Irene’s violin piece were highlights. It is impossible to mention everyone, but Tuesday’s clear and joyous personality stands out, as does Pony’s energy and sense of mischief, cheeky Toots, the Professor’s analytical mind, and Mrs Wirth’s powerful (and oh-so-recognisable) characterisation of a busybody.

This is a talented company with bags of potential all round: well done to director Jacqui Trent for taking on a massive project and making it such a success and congratulations to you all for bringing it together.

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