Emil and the Detectives

This week we went to see Emil and the Detectives at the National Theatre in London. Emil and his friends were great actors even though they were only children. . I was also amazed at their confidence to stand up to a crowd of over 1000 people.

 

The basic plot was about Emil going to visit his Grandma in Berlin. He starts on the train with two nice normal ladies, a sheep,  and one very suspicious man . The man turned out to be  called... Mr Snow. His character was obnoxious  and his voice very patronising. On the train he tells Emil to try and get some sleep but being an criminal he steals 140 Marks from Emil's pocket.  Emil was taking his mother's savings to Grandma as a gift. The rest of the story was about Emil and his friends going on an adventure to  get the money back. The play was set in Berlin in 1929 when kids were seen as a nuisance.

My favourite parts were when Emil went down into the sewers. Ladders came up from the floor and down from the ceiling which gave the impression that he was climbing down. Other scenery that I really liked was the lighting in the sewer tunnel. It looked like the tunnel of doom went on forever. 

There was a lot of tension in the play. Scary stories about Berlin were told at the start to warn Emil about the dangers of the city and his nightmares soon came true when flick knives appeared. The music helped to create suspense.  There were funny parts too, for example when the cast ran through the audience. I was also surprised when at one point money fell from the ceiling.

One of my  favourite characters was actually a girl called Pony. Her character was  really feisty and she  stood up for herself. I was a bit surprised at some of her strong language though. 

During the interval we asked the members of the audience who didn't have children with them if they were enjoying the show. They replied that it was a great show for all ages and that they liked the music.  It was a bit like a pantomime as there were some jokes that were for adults that I didn't really get.

I had a brilliant evening and would thoroughly recommend this show to people of all ages.