“Ruby Redfort” is a highly successful collection of children’s books from the author Lauren Child. The first of the books was released in 2011 and the remaining five in the series came along between 2012 and 2016. Child was born in London but was actually born Helen Child, she only later changed her name to Lauren prior to the start of her literary career.
The “Ruby Redfort” series of books follows Ruby, a genius code-cracker, a daring detective, a gadget-laden special agent who also happens to be a thirteen year old girl. She works for the undercover agency SPECTRUM with her sidekick butler – Hitch. She also has a best friend, Clancy, who despite Ruby’s promises to keep her missions secret always seems to get involved in some way.
This production by the Escapade Theatre Company is the first ever adaptation of any of the books and they have done a fine job in condensing the first book in the series – “Look Into My Eyes” – into a 60 minute play that stays true to the book’s plot. This required some fast paced moving of the storyline but they achieved this with some style, ably assisted by an excellent cast – most of whom play several parts.
The year is 1973 and the place is Twinford in the USA. The story revolves around the Jade Buddha of Khotan which is due to be displayed in the gallery in Twinford by Ruby’s parents. The Jade Buddha is supposed to have magical powers and as a result has attracted some master criminals who are about to hatch a plan to steal it.
Enter thirteen year old Ruby (Katie Beudert) who has already exhibited the traits of a master code breaker that haven’t gone unnoticed by the undercover agency – SPECTRUM. She is led to their secret hideaway and recruited as their next master detective, which subsequently leads to her and Clancy Crew (Peter Steele) going on the adventure of a lifetime. The plot moves at quite a rate but that meant they kept the attention of even the youngest members of the audience.
“Ruby Redfort” is a thoroughly enjoyable production with an excellent cast. Many of them played multiple characters but all dealt with this challenge with consummate ease, making the smallest of clothing changes but more tellingly facial expressions and mannerisms. The set was simple but very effective, with the use of hand-held light strobes to create windows, lifts, entrances and even whole buildings. This was my first experience of Escapade but if this represents the standards we can expect from all of their productions then I hope to attend many more.
Reviewer - John Fish
on - 2/6/19
No comments:
Post a Comment