THEATRE REVIEW: Emil and the Detectives ★★★★★

Emil and the Detectives
National Theatre, London

Emil and The Detectives is a fantastic show, which is easily up with one of my favourite theatre experiences for many reasons. 

Emil is set in Berlin, where he is going off to stay with his grandma, where he promises his mother that he will give money, stored in an envelope, to his grandma, but along the way on the train, this envelope gets stolen by Mr Snow, a man with a bowler hat and moustache. 

There is a fantastic train sequence which uses all the performers moving in sync like passers by at a station, and multirole various characters throughout. 

Other sequences that were amazing were the taxi scene, where windows on the set lit up green, amber and red, represting traffic lights and the beginning sequences with Emil running home, and this was done by running in circles whilst the Centre piece, which in this case was the house, was revolving. 

Talking about the characters, all the child actors in this production were fantastic, almost like naturals to the stage, really likeable and had bags of energy, especially Ethan Hammer, who played Emil in this production I saw.

The robbery of the money is well executed with Mr Snow moving in on Emil in black outs on the train, were this represented going through a tunnel, and he used counting sheep to make Emil fall asleep. 

The backdrop preshow of act one was an envelope, which, when the show started, magically opened up anti clockwise, to reveal Emil at the back in a spotlight, were a voiceover began, and for me this was a perfect start to any show, and very very effective and interactive, which made me excited for the rest of the show.

The preshow backdrop for act two was a map of the town Emil was in, with different attraction, which was used during the first 15 minutes of the second act, to track down where Emil and his newly recruited detectives, who were made up of some of the main characters, and an ensemble of around 40 children,  were as we caught up with his journey to find Mr Snow. 

Now onto my favourite scene and sequence of the show, and it came about in the sewers. The way they did this, were Emil finally encounters Mr Snow, was truly mind blowing, and had Emil opening up a sewer from the ground to then climb on a ladder, which slowly moved up and Emil climbed down, to get the sense that he was climbing down the sewers ladder. It was just amazing, and the following sequence, which lasted a round 5 minutes, had Emil running round the sewer, which had a couple of the ensemble with torches to represent different parts of the sewer, and had them turning off their torches to change positions. The whole effect was slick, on time, and effective, added with the sound effects of rats and dripping water in the background, just made the whole sequence extremely realistic and jaw dropping.  

Drawing the play to a close, Emil's mother is phoned and explained to the situation, which results in her coming over to Berlin to see Emil, who runs away from her to pursue catching Mr Snow, who escaped from the sewer previous. This then leads to a bank scene, and the child actors running through the audience and Mr Snow tries to make a getaway. This then followed with Emil pleading with the audience to get them to stand up to show that we witnessed the robbery from Mr Snow, which gave a really nice touch to the audience participation and I, along with the rest of the theatre, stood up, which felt really nice.  

Overall, Emil and The Detectives has to be one of the best things I have seen in London. The set, cast and story was compelling and easy to understand. It flowed nicely and there was always something happening, which kept me on the edge of my seat. A must see for everyone!