DR. WHO AND THE DALEKS : Adelphi
A DALEK, as every telly-trained child, knows, is a steel beehive-shaped robot capable of speaking a guttural, staccato English, and equipped to exterminate its foes with one casual burst of its projecting arsenal of death-ray guns.
For a short Christmas season we have these menacing, yet oddly endearing, machine's running loose on the stage of the Adelphi, where they are confronted by the intrepid sci-fi explorer Dr. Who.
Written by Terrance Dicks, the play depicts the adventures and ordeals undergone by the white-maned Doctor and his two child assistants as they go in search of seven crystals on the mysterious Planet Karn.
Clamour
The crystals, when assembled, will give their owner invincible power over all galaxies.
The story and its human participants, however, run a poor second to the production's splendid gadgetry. Besides the rasping Daleks themselves, designer John Napier offers us several other compelling monsters, including 15 ft. high creatures with transparent skulls and some menacing "Clawrantulas," whose natural weaponry includes giant crab's claws.
The search for the crystals is undertaken amid great clouds of smoke and a ceaseless clamour of electronic whoops and whistles. Trevor Martin plays the frock-coated Dr. Who in the extravagant manner of an Edwardian ham actor.
Recommended for children of say, ten and over.
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