"Around The World In 80 Days" by Jules Verne

Derby Theatre

I remember reading the Jules Verne book as a child and being enthralled by the whole magical story, so when I was invited along to see this stage version, I eagerly accepted.

A band of travelling circus performers, led by the Ringmaster, embark on their most daring feat yet: to recreate the adventures of Phileas Fogg as he sets off on his race around the world in just 80 days. But the Acrobat wants the true story to be told, determined to have the star turn as Nellie Bly, who completed the task in just 72 days, win the race.

The show brings together both stories, the fictional Fogg tale and the factual story of Bly, who managed to go around the world in less time than the fictional story of Phileas Fogg; all in one visually exciting piece of theatre.

When you walk into the auditorium, you're greeted by a circus setting, but as the world tour goes on, it becomes a ship, a port, a cabin, a road and several other scenes relevant to the story. We also see several modes of transport, from a ship, a bicycle, a train and even an elephant!

Alex Phelps plays Phileas Fogg/ Ringmaster; Fogg portrayed as a serious, no nonsense, unruffled, time keeping gentleman, while the Ringmaster is a typical showman.

Katriona Brown doubles up as Nellie Bly, who keeps us in the loop about her own circumnavigational skills and journey, as well as The Acrobat.

Wilson Benedito plays Passepartout, Fogg's right-hand man and general secretary. This man has boundless energy, interacting with the audience and swapping costumes to play other characters. There is one scene that involves Passepartout and Detective Fix with a see saw; the choreography for this section is very funny, reminding me of the old black and white movies of stars like Laurel and Hardy or Buster Keaton. Lovely gentle slapstick moment where one over balancing could ruin the whole scene.

Genevieve Sabherwal plays Aouda, Fogg's love interest as well as the Trick Rider, plus several other characters I have a feeling I was told that there are about 39 characters in this piece of theatre, all played by the five actors.

Playing the Knife Thrower and Detective Fix is Adam Mann. This character comes across as the typical bumbling detective, but his plans are thwarted by Passepartout in another nod to the old silent movies genre when it comes to the fight choreography between the pair. This fight choreography is thanks to Jonathan Holby. There are some lovely family friendly comedy moments from Detective Fix, as well as from the other four excellent and hard-working actors.

The five actors play all roles and showcase their various talents which include circus skills, mime, puppetry and playing musical instruments among them. Plus the timing was spectacularly good!

Directed and Adapted by Juliet Forster, this show is so pacy, at times it takes your breath away; there's definitely no time for any younger audience members to get bored with the speed that this show goes at. Wonderfully exciting, as well as very different with the blending of fact and fictional characters.

The set design is by Sara Perks, and you can see the amount of work that has gone into this area. At first glance you see a circus with a bunch of circus folk, but throughout the play, the set evolves with the story in such a clever way that, by the end, you've almost forgotten that it started out as a circus.

Sound Design by Edwin Gray. There is a lot of subtle sound scaping going on here. From the gentle sound of waves lapping and seagulls to cannon noises and various other sound effects that, maybe you don't notice at the time but when you think back, there's a lot going off sound wise.

Lighting Design by Alexandra Stafford; and again, the subtlety of the lighting design may not be appreciated by most of the audience, and that clever subtlety is what makes both the lighting and sound design so natural that you don't notice. Sometimes less is more, especially when you're wrapped up in the story and the characters.

The costumes are wonderfully bright, something that younger audience members are going to love. Something else they are going to love, along with mums, dads, grannies, grandads, uncles, aunts and anyone else who comes to see this show, is the range of circus skills on show. From hula hooping to tumbling to cycling, it's all there. And for audience members of a certain age, see if you can spot the Wham! reference.

This is definitely one show that can be enjoyed by all members of the family; and I also learned something from the show tonight regarding Nellie Bly.

"Around The World In 80 Days" will move on after Saturday 10 June so grab your tickets while you can for this fast paced, fun piece of theatre.