Book, Lyrics and Director: Xavier Newton Fawcett
Playing at breakneck speed, the performers in this musical crime caper are certainly full of energy. But this enthusiasm also has a downside as the whole 60-minute show about a Roman god-cum-Belgian detective is delivered in the same whacky, and occasionally wearying, manner.
Hercule famously has his little grey cells, but Hercules has superhuman strength, as well as a gift for deduction, making him a detective par excellence. It is he the police call on when there are reports of dodgy dealings within a chessbox competition where contestants alternate between a chess match and a bout in the boxing ring. When the commissioner of the police force is brutally killed behind a locked door, Hercules must quickly find the culprit before he himself is framed for the murder.
A complicated plot, for sure, but the comedy is foregrounded by the four-strong cast who have to play a huge variety of roles, all at the drop of a hat. Edward Ramsey is Miss Marple and Sherlock Holmes and Inspector Gadget while the indefatigable Jack Dalton is Columbo and a cheese-hungry police officer. Sophia Holmes is the overlooked PC Peggy Hastings and Hercules’ mother. The three of them dizzyingly and repeatedly swirl around Charlie Sharpe’s Hercules as he tries to crack the case.
The frenetic pace and the cheese-orientated gags are so relentless that the show loses its appeal in some places. Each scene is played too hurriedly. There are plenty of jokes to be mined from a rivalry between Agatha Christie’s famous characters, but as soon as Marple and Hercules are in the ring, the actors swiftly change characters.
There are songs, too, and the opening number. Last Name Poirot, First Name Hercules, is very catchy. A later song even manages to insert the Poirot theme from ITV into its tune. However, the music, sparklingly played on the keyboard by Finlay Stafford, is often too loud drowning out the lyrics sung by the actors.
This show doesn’t need to be any longer, but it definitely needs more breathing room so that the comedy can shine brighter. The performers aren’t quite killing it yet, but they are having a ball and this is infectious in itself.
Runs until 20 August 2024
Camden Fringe runs until 25 August 2024
