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What an outstanding performance from the Dover Grammar boys in Alan Ackybourn's 'The Boy Who Fell Into a Book' at the Roundhouse Theatre on Saturday night.

The cast of The Boy Who Fell Into a book

The clever story of young Kevin who gets drawn into the worlds created by the books on his bedroom shelf, kept the audience captivated for the full two hours, as they wondered what adventure he would be pulled into next.

His constant companion on his journey was the American detective, Rockfist Slim, who is the hero of the first book Kevin is reading before the adventures begins.

They are pursued throughout by Rockfist's arch-nemesis, Monique, who adds to the peril that Kevin and Rockfist find themselves in as each new book opens.

The star of the show was, without a doubt, young Ben Steele, who played the hard-nosed detective with great energy, elan, and enthusiasm, and maintained a difficult American accent throughout. He delivered the comic lines with superb timing, causing the audience to laugh uproariously every time; and skillfully gave the audience the range of emotions from anger to bewilderment, that Rockfist felt each time he found himself in a new book.

Second only to Ben's performance was that of James Coe as Kevin, whose portrayal of a bright young lad stuck in a mad world was extremely polished. As straight man to the Rockfist character he delivered his lines perfectly, and showed us his amused exasperation at Rockfist's reaction to every new situation - shoot first and ask questions later.

As the show's Director, the school's drama teacher, Michael Thomas said in his speech at the end of the show, Ben and James had to learn what amounted to two major parts in a major West End production, as the pair were on stage for every scene - and the fact that they did that in only two months makes their performances even more remarkable.

Other fine performances came from Jasmin Cox as Monique, who for one so young managed to portray the femme fatale menance of her character with considerable style. Mr Thomas daughter, Imogen as Little Red Riding Hood, was as cute as her character should be; and Sam Flaherty's Scottish accent as the evil Ebeneezer from Kidnapped was flawless.

If I had to pick a favourite scene - not just for me, but from the audiences's reaction, everyone else's - it had to be the Wooblies, which elicited a round of applause when it was over.

It was a comedy masterpiece, from Baby Woobly's infectious enthusiasm (played with cheeky insouciance by Harvey Johnson) to Rockfist's embarassment and frustration at being stuck in a jelly-eating picnic with three orange teddy bears. That the Wooblies (Keiron Neame and Jasmin Cox as Daddy and Mummy) could only communicate by saying 'woobly, woobly, woobly', and Kevin and Rockfist could only talk to them by responding in kind, only made the scene funnier.

The Dover Grammar Schools for Boys and Girls showed on Saturday night that they have some very talented pupils in their schools, and the show they put on was as good as any I have seen in the Roundhouse since in started putting on productions in 2005. I, for one, am very glad I made the journey over from Folkestone to see the lads and lasses in action.