Inspector Drake & the Time Machine

What an enjoyable evening – a fast-paced play with plenty of laughs, light-hearted but well-directed and performed.

The set was nicely designed and built, it adapted well from the Professor’s House to the inside of the space ship, with a nod given to the fact the space ship looked rather like the house!!  The house was typical of a Professor’s abode, while the Zircon spaceship had some very nice silvery accents, with various interesting props.  The placing of the Professor’s body on the wall was just right.

A good technical coverage from Paul Horsler, both in terms of an excellent lighting plot, and visual and sound effects.  The effect of the time machine hurtling through space was achieved via projection, and everything worked really well.

David Sachon directed again – he was lucky in his cast.  David has good directorial ideas, which the cast took and used, they moved well around the set, and kept the pace up throughout.

It was lovely to see Joe Butcher back in the title role of Inspector Drake – he plays the part in an understated way, but never missing the chance to get the laughs, it seemed very natural, and once again I loved his portrayal.

Dave Hillman took over as Sergeant Plod – with a nice reference to Kevin Birkett who previously played the role.  However, Dave took the part and played it to the full – some lovely facial expressions, particularly when Drake put the headphones on him to try to increase his IQ.

Joe and Dave had a good onstage rapport, interacted well and made what was essentially a rather silly play, into an extremely good piece, without missing a beat.  Even the silences seemed charged and pacey!  

Susie Conder as Miss Duck, who was also Miss Williams and also the High Priestess of Zircon, accomplished good characterisations, and certainly looked the parts, very well done.  Loved her High Priestess costume, it echoed the silver accents of the set, and looked lovely.

I liked Andrew Naish as Jack the forensic guy, and also Iei, a good spaceman – talking double dutch, then switching to English with the help of a transformer – very well done.  Again the space costume was colourful.

Carmel Byrne was the Professor’s housekeeper, Miss Short, she made a very good 83 year old, then transforming into Maki the other space person.  The chat between her and Iei was very funny – I liked what they did with the parts.

The final cast member was Sioban Gilmartin as Luni – I loved the exaggerated costume in white and silver, it not only looked good, Sioban created a believable robot-like character.

There were a lot of double entendres, but the whole thing was very snappy, some great touches and good comedy observances.

The story was a bit more far-fetched than the previous plays, but it somehow worked, I think because of the standard of direction, performance and technicals.  Very well done to everyone.

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