Inspector Drake and the Time Machine

For those unfamiliar with the title the story commences when the professor's dead body is found floating weightlessly in his study.  We are introduced to the ‘intrepid’ Inspector Drake who quickly identifies that the professor’s daughter is also missing.  With the help of Miss Duck it becomes clear that the mystery centres around a time machine and without any help at all from the aptly named Sergeant Plod, Drake sets out to solve the crime of the century - the thirtieth century that is.  Transported by the time machine to 2950 the policing duo find themselves on the deck of an alien spaceship, where they discover that the dead professor is not their only problem – The Zircon alien community plan to take over the earth. 

With more than a hint of ‘Police Squad’ we find Sergeant Plod, wonderfully played by Andrew Blake, and Police Scientist Jack,  a debut role with the Society for Ollie Turner, in the crime scene.  The prelude to this was Plod’s entrance with torch through the audience and his physical time-travel really set the scene up well. When Inspector Drake (David Hawxwell) joins them, the jokes flow fast and whilst the audience could see many of them coming the timing between this trio made them funny.  Some great interactions and good use of physicality, particularly when transporting the dead body – the less said about that the better.

Caroline Lang was wonderfully frail as Mrs Short, the 82 year old maid – acting every inch the part.  Helen Davison was confident and poised as Miss Duck, deftly switching accents as it became clear that her character was not an American journalist, but the best friend of the missing daughter of the professor.

After the interval we are transported to the Zircon Spaceship and introduced to some rather intriguing characters.  Mandy Grimston as Lei and Jo Stallard as Maki, the aliens from Zircon, had really mastered the Zircon tongue and without a glimmer of breaking character they and their bright green unitards and alien eyes continued to babble away until the cast were issued with ear defenders – which translated what they were saying for the benefit of cast and audience.  Luni, an Android, was played by Olivia Booth who also managed to keep a straight face whilst literally being man-handled by the earthlings.  Booth looked and sounded the part and did incredibly well to remain so dour with the jokes continuing around her.  The final character was the High Priestess of Zircon and Carol Hawxwell was super as the sex-starved priestess whose groping hands introduce Drake to rather more than he had bargained for.

The timing and delivery of lines by all the actors was super and the audience really enjoyed the completely unbelievable plot, whilst the characters were absolutely convincing in their roles.  Very well done to them all.

The set was well-designed, and props were great for this production.  Costumes were light-hearted and suited the show.  Lighting was very good and the sound was excellent, once again supported by very clear projection from all on stage.

Kay McGuire as director along with a talented team of performers did a great job in entertaining us all.  It really was an hilarious evening and I hope the cast and crew enjoyed it as much as the audience.

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