The Solve It Squad
It’s been twenty years since the death of Benji Scragtowski’s beloved dog Cluebert, sacrificed in a strange Satanic ritual by a killer who was never identified, the cold case of the Demonic Apostle now reopened when a file lands on his desk at the FBI and it becomes apparent that the Mayberry Gardens Hotel and Spa are once again being haunted, obliging him to locate his long-lost friends who together once formed the Solve It Squad.
Performed under normal circumstances by Ashley Clements, Gabe Greenspan, Lauren Lopez, Joey Richter and Brian Rosenthal, though sometimes with emergency substitutions due to recent illness, The Solve It Squad were a nationally acclaimed detective team with an unbroken track record, now two decades past the glory of high school and coping, or otherwise, with the disappointments and responsibilities of adult life.
Scraggs still obsessing over the one tragic case that they never solved, Gwen Barrywood describes herself as an actor, influencer and author but keeps quiet about her unhappy marriage, Keith Swanson lives in a camper van on Venice Beach and Esther, no last name given, lives the anonymous life of a burnt-out child prodigy who self-medicates to control her cognitive over-achieving, the wheels coming off the Mystery Mobile at the end of the road.
Finding themselves in situations which Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and Scooby could never imagine in their more innocent youth of abandoned fairgrounds haunted by masked ghouls, half the joy of The Solve It Squad is seeing the characters behave and express themselves in ways their beloved but sanitised inspirations never could, and the ensemble excel in a fun investigation filled with false leads, secret passages and a host of suspects and red herrings, only occasionally frustrating when dialogue is lost to the near-constant laughter and applause of the delighted capacity crowd.
The Solve It Squad continues at the Assembly George Square Studios until Sunday 25th August
