"Daisy Pulls It Off" by Denise Deegan.

The Belper Players.

Strutts Community Centre, Belper, Derbyshire.

If you’ve ever read any of Enid Blyton’s “Mallory Towers” books or even “Harry Potter” to a certain extent, you will know that private boarding schools are a rich picking ground for some wonderful characters, and Denise Deegan has created a spiffing set of characters in her novel which transcends so well to the stage, especially when the actors have the enthusiasm for this play as they have. Not to mention the energy needed for this pacy show.

I've seen this play many years ago performed by young actors. In this production, everyone is played by grown up actors, which makes this production even more fun. In fact they reminded me just what a wonderfully topping play this really is.

It's the 1920's and Daisy Meredith is an outsider to the elite girls normally admitted to Grangewood School for Girls because she is the first ever elementary scholarship pupil, and this means that to some of the girls already there, she is a target for bullying. Fortunately she befriends Trixie and between the pair they embark on an adventure to recover the Beaumont family’s lost treasure and also other discoveries along the way. It’s all absolutely spiffing, topping and jolly hockysticks – oh yes there’s also a hockey match on stage as well! How do they do it? Do they find the missing treasure? Who is the mystery groundsman? Only one way to find out the answers to these questions!

Daisy is played by Kat Fenton, who completely embodies the eager to fit in Daisy Meredith. Wonderfully wide eyed and RP spoken, Kat's enthusiasm playing Daisy is immediately infectious. Daisy has four brothers and it never failed to raise a laugh when she mentioned them, Douglas, Daniel, David and Duncan, and indicated their elder to younger status with her hands in height levels, every time she mentioned them.

Trixie Martin is played by Louisa Jenkins and is equally as wide eyed and excitable as Daisy, you can see why these two madcap characters were destined to become best friends.

Sybil Burlington, played by Sara Noble-Nesbitt, and Monica Smithers, played by Kat Foxx are the bully ring-leaders, trying to turn the other girls against Daisy and setting her up for trouble with the teachers. Both Sybil and Monica, by the end of the play, have a lot to thank Daisy for.

Head Girl, Clare Beaumont is played by Tracey Wilkinson and is one of those good friends you need in school, especially when you're a new starter. Clare, is the one who's family used to own the school building and grounds but had to give it up after her grandfather died, hiding the family treasure and leaving a mysterious will.

Miss Granville is played by Alyson Koe, who also doubles up as one of the girls, Winnie Irving. 

Mademoiselle and Dora Johnston are both played by Diane Churchill. These roles are quite opposite in character; Mademoiselle is wonderfully animated et j'adore l'accent, while Dora, another one of the girls, is a bit of a mouse.

Miss Gibson, the head of Grangewood School for girls, is played by Mik Horvath. There are flashbacks of Alistair Sim in St Tinian's or even Rupert Everett, when he plays the infamous St Tinian's head. There could have been a danger of making this strong female character into a weak drag lookalike, but this is not the case, and Mik has Miss Gibson balanced just perfectly. 

Martin Drake plays Mr Scoblowski, the Russian music and geography tutor. Brilliant accent and character driven performance which turns quite a bit darker as we find out more about him.

Martin A Baker doubles as The Station Master and Mr Thompson, the latter we don't find out about until near the end of the play. What is Mr Thompson's obsession with whistling a particular Welsh piece of music though, something that is also picked up by Daisy!

Meg Russell as Alice Fitzpatrick, and Jo Attenborough plays Daisy's Welsh, opera singing Mother as well as schoolgirl, Belinda Mathieson, complete the cast.

Directed by Patricia Church, she brings every Mallory Towers and Amelia Jane characteristic to this play. All wide eyes and enthusiasm, making sure that all the girls in the play act with their faces, and it's with this visual style of acting that makes this play such fun to watch.

Patricia also uses the upper level of this performance area, high above the audience for part of this story, something I hadn't expected, but worked so well with this particular part of the storyline.

The set is split into five sections, focusing on Miss Gibson's office, the area where Daisy is put for confinement, the middle section which works for everything from the hockey field to the school assembly room, the school library, which also doubles as the school classroom, and then that upper level. Tom Hammond, Nikky Rowe and Barry Brown are responsible for the set and act as the stage crew as well.

Lighting Design is by Nick Mothershaw and operated by Alex Libby; both areas of the production boxes well and truly ticked.

Sound Design and operation is by Rob Snell. The effects are well timed and are apt. With there not being mics used for the actors, the mix for the sound was just right and complimented the vocal projection of this cast. 

The costumes are great with the schoolgirl uniforms and the specific tutor uniforms as well as the additional costumes needed for the other characters. Provided by Patricia Church, Belper Players as well as the Watson Players.

Denise Deegan's script provides the perfect vehicle for a predominantly female cast, and is just tremendously great fun - I may even say "topping". It's brilliant fun and I loved the way this cast totally embraced the characterisation of their roles so spiffingly. Oh, and just in case you have a bit of a problem understanding some of the Deeganism speech, in the playbill programme, there's also a glossary to explain the meaning of such words used in the play such as "jubilate", "Jemima!" and "cold-pig".

Anyway, let's scooterons nous, this production is gloriously Capital and fantastic fun, so from me, it's Cheeriosa, go get them tickets!

“Daisy Pulls It Off” is at Strutts Community Centre, Belper until Saturday 13 July.