2019 Inspector Drake and the Time Machine

Inspector Drake and the Time Machine

By David Tristram
Directed by: Adrian Barrett
Production Dates: 26th – 28th September 2019

PHOTOS

PRESS RELEASE

He’s back!!! After the hilarious “Inspector Drake and the Black Widow”, performed back in 2013, Inspector Drake and his hapless sidekick return to investigate the mysterious case of a missing professor. His dead body is found floating weightlessly in the study, his daughter has vanished, and everything points to the mysterious Time Machine.

Can the intrepid Inspector Drake, ably hampered by Sergeant Plod, solve the crime of the century? The 30th century that is? Fasten your seat belts for a comedy that’s way ahead of its time!

“Inspector Drake and the Time Machine”, by David Tristram, is coming to Bishopstoke Memorial Hall from Thursday 26th to Saturday 28th September 2019 at 7.30pm.

Tickets are £8 (£6 for those aged 16 or under) and are available here or email boxoffice@bishopstokeplayers.uk or phone 07871 006551.

As with all Bishopstoke Players’ productions, proceeds will be donated to the charity Action for Children.

The running time for this production is expected to be approximately 1 hour 30 minutes including interval.

This amateur production of “Inspector Drake and the Time Machine” is presented by special arrangement with SAMUEL FRENCH LTD a Concord Theatricals Company.

REVIEWS

Encore Reviews

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Review: INSPECTOR DRAKE AND THE TIME MACHINE.
Bishopstoke Players.
Bishopstoke Memorial Hall.
26 September 2019

He’s back!!! After the hilarious “Inspector Drake and the Black Widow”, was performed back in 2013, Bishopstoke Players have brought back Inspector Drake and his hapless sidekick Sergeant Plod to investigate the mysterious case of a missing professor. His dead body is found floating weightlessly in the study, his daughter has vanished, and everything points to the mysterious Time Machine. I didn’t see the production in 2013, but if they had anywhere near as much fun as the audience tonight, it was a ‘no brainer’ to put on this follow up.
Inspector Drake, played by Pete Burton, commanded the stage throughout with perfect timing and comedy expressions – he was aided (or hindered) by the hapless Sergeant Plod, played by Jon Morgan (who incidentally, played the same character back in 2013. Between these two main characters, they bounced off each other all the way through the performance with countless one liners and comedic innuendoes – and a fair amount of childish, silly humour which the adult audience appreciated.!
Helping to look for clues to the murder was Jack, ably played by Michele Zadra, and Mrs Short the maid (Lizzie Harden) – both of whom carried out double roles and delighted the audience in the second half as lei and Maki – members of the Zircon Space Cruiser.
Marie Bradley enjoyed lusting after Inspector Drake both in 1950 and again after the time machine travelled forward to 2950 by playing both Miss Duck and the High Priestess – the same person but 1,900 years apart and Luni the Android (Katie Pink) in her superb silver costume and roller skates made you feel you were transported into the future too.
The whole show consisted of just 6 people on stage, but all delivered their lines without fault, – and there was a lot of dialogue to remember in this short production.! The set did not really change, apart from a few amendments in the interval, but it worked, with good props and especially effective was the Time Machine complete with smoke and sound effects.
All in all, with all the depressing news in the public domain right now, surely all the members of the audience would really love a trip in that time machine! Inspector Drake and the Time Machine runs until Saturday 28th September – go along and escape reality for a couple of hours.
Liz – Encore Review
BISHOPSTOKE MEMORIAL HALL.

Scene One Plus

http://sceneoneplus.com/inspector-drake-and-the-time-machine/

Bishopstoke Players
Bishopstoke Memorial Hall, Bishopstoke
Hannah Harrison
27 September 2019

Bishopstoke Memorial Hall is tucked away in a beautiful location right next to the river in Bishopstoke.

I had never been here before and the hall itself brought back many a fond memory for me as it reminded me of my old village hall back in the heart of Somerset, where I spent many a night performing plays and pantomimes with my Dad.

I was really excited for Inspector Drake And The Time Machine this evening as my own father had actually played the inspector in Inspector Drake’s Last Case some six or seven years ago and I knew just how well written and humorous the shows could be.

Tonight’s performance started off with a lot of energy as Sergeant Plod (Jon Morgan) and Jack the crime scene investigator (Michele Zadra) took to the stage, delivering some rather hilarious – if cheesy – lines. The energy did dip at the arrival of Inspector Drake (Pete Burton), however, and unfortunately never came back up.

Inspector Drake plays are rather short (usually in one act) and as such the energy needs to be high, the cues need to be tight and the comic timing needs to be hit with precision. However, there was a lack of the above this evening.

My favourite character was that of Sergeant Plod (Jon Morgan), who played the blistering police officer rather well, and often when watching him literally plod about on stage, I did forget entirely that I was reviewing a show and was simply happy to watch the action unfold for a moment or two.

The show as a whole was generally a little flat and sometimes left me feeling just a little uncomfortable as the humour was lost in the more awkward moments between Inspector Drake and The High Priestess (Marie Bradley).

The Bishopstoke Players themselves do make a real event of their plays and the refreshments, make shift bar and Raffle was very happily received.

My star of the show this evening actually goes to one young woman not on the stage! To the blonde girl assisting her Dad with the raffle, you had us in stitches with the amount of general sass and humour you exuded as you selected the tickets and urged people to keep away from the wine because “Daddy wants that”. You really summed up the community feel of the Bishopstoke Players for me, and I would love to see you on a stage yourself someday as I can imagine that would be one heck of an entertaining show.

Lastly, I cannot end my review without mentioning the incredible work that the Bishopstoke Players do for the local community, as this evening they presented a rather large cheque to Action for Children. This is a wonderful cause that helps disadvantaged children across the UK by doing what’s right, what’s needed and what works for children.

I was rather touched to see the charitable donation from the Bishopstoke Players and can only say “Keep up the good work”.