So Gemma, the director of that New Zealand production of Doggone Detectives, just sent me some photos of the cast. They're from rehearsal, not the performance itself, but they do a great job of showing the costumes in all their furry glory--as well as the passion and skill Gemma put into making them.
Doggone Detectives has 35 roles, plus an optional number of extras. This makes it my largest-cast play by far. The good thing about this is that it gives a lot of kids the opportunity to strut their stuff.
The challenging thing is that somebody's got to make all those costumes. And a lot of those costumes are breed-specific (though you're always free to change the breed or make them all generic).
A couple of Dalmatians named--what else?--Spot and Dot are the ones who get the whole ball rolling, calling the doggy detectives to investigate a missing bone.
The detectives turn to three poochy police officers--two German Shepherds and a coffee-loving pug. Unfortunately, they find them less than helpful.
An evil dog catcher captures German Shepherd detective Sam Spayed while her bloodhound partner Sherlock Bones watches helplessly.
Sherlock and their other partner, a terrier named Frisky, look for him at the pound but only find these forlorn prisoners (no breed is listed for them, but I like to think of them as mutts).
It turns out that the missing bones were part of a nefarious plot to turn the town's dogs into cats--masterminded by Miss Fluffypants and Alley Cat Gang.
In the end, Frisky overcomes her fear of telephones (and everything else) to defeat the evil cats and turn the dogs back to their intended species.
The licensing fee is $50 per performance (cheap), but if you'd like to read the script for possible production (or just to find out how our slobbering sleuths vanquish those bad old cats!), email me and I'll send you a free electronic copy. Bone appetit!
