Gruesome Twosome

DOUBLE BILL: The Speckled Band/The Murders in the Rue Morgue

The Blue Orange Theatre, Birmingham, Friday 27^th October 2023

A pairing of two-handers, an opportunity to compare and contrast, to trace the development of the whodunit… Also a chance to have a bloody good night out.

First up is  Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Speckled Band, featuring the world’s most famous fictional detective, Mr Sherlock Holmes, portrayed here by James Nicholas, who has also penned this adaptation.  Playing Doctor Watson (and everyone else in the story) is the consistently excellent Darren Haywood.  Haywood drops into characters without even dropping a hat, conjuring up women instantaneously – the surprise shocks laughter from the audience – and donning a top hat and booming voice to embody the forceful Doctor Grimesby Roylott.  It’s like watching a virtuoso fiddle.  Watson’s narration draws us along with Holmes into the mystery: a young lady dies in a locked room.  Even though I know who dun it, the storytelling is exquisite and I can’t wait to see how it is played out.  Nicholas and Haywood portray the prickly Holmes/Watson dynamic like old hands, capturing the eccentricity and sometimes coldness of the former, and the warmth and humour of the latter.  Inevitably, it’s a wordy piece but Oliver Hume’s direction keeps things moving, drawing on the charisma of his brace of actors and the intrigue of the story to keep us hooked.

Next is Edgar Allan Poe’s The Murders in the Rue Morgue, which is generally credited as the first detective story.  We have Poe to thank for the genre, which had a bloody birth in the form of this mystery.  Importantly, the story gives us the detective as lead character: we meet C. August Dupin, a smug know-it-all.  It’s easy to see him as a prototype for Sherlock Holmes or Hercule Poirot.  Dupin (every time I hear his name I want to add du vin, du Boursin) is played by Darren Haywood, mercifully without an Inspector Clouseau accent!  This time it falls to James Nicholas to provide the rest of the characters, and he does so in a dazzling display of his versatility as an actor.  Writer-director Mark Webster’s adaptation doesn’t stint on gory details, nor on comic relief to keep things palatable.  Animated projections on a screen at the back depict illustrations in a book, stylised representations of the grisly crime scene – it’s left to our imaginations to picture things in detail.  The turning pages remind us of the genre’s literary origins.

Both stories play out on the same set (by Webster and Ben Mills-Wood), a clutter of wooden crates and period objects.  Simon Ravenhill, Haina Al-Saud, and Nasrin Khanjari have provided period costumes, which play a big part in creating a sense of the time, and assisting the actors to portray a variety of characters quickly and succinctly.  Nathan Bower’s lighting changes and sound design conjure up locations and atmosphere expertly.  The intimate space of the Blue Orange begins to feel like a locked room itself…

It’s a thoroughly entertaining evening, performed to the hilt by two of the Blue Orange’s star players.  You can almost hear the cogs turning in the heads of fellow audience members as they try to solve the cases for themselves.

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

James Nicholas (right) looking concerned about the flamboyance of Darren Haywood’s bow-tie

Holmes is Where the Heart is

A STUDY IN SCARLET

The Attic Theatre, Stratford upon Avon, Saturday 16^th September 2023

For the third year running, Tread The Boards presents a Sherlock Holmes adaptation.  It’s become a highlight of my theatrical year, and they just get better and better.

As before, the script is by Robert Moore (who also plays the great detective), and we get two Conan Doyle stories for our money: the eponymous one, which details the first meeting of Holmes and Watson, and also The Adventure of the Bruce Partington Plans.  Moore deftly entwines the two rather than presenting the stories separately, making for a cohesive whole, bookended by narration from John-Robert Partridge’s Doctor Watson.

Quite simply, Moore and Partridge make a consummate pairing, bringing the famous duo to life.  Robert Moore is born to play Holmes and gives a dazzling star turn.  His Holmes is how I imagine him: condescending and peremptory, yet inspired and whip-smart, to almost superhuman proportions.  Human warmth doesn’t come easily to him but we get a genuine sense of a growing attachment to his new roommate, the doctor.  John-Robert Partridge (who also directs) is pitch perfect as Watson, often bamboozled by his new friend with no slight on his own intelligence.

Completing the household at 221B Baker Street is the mighty Matilda Bott as Mrs Hudson, bringing a great deal of humour to proceedings and also a touch of pathos later on.  Bott also takes on other roles; you don’t have to be Sherlock Holmes to deduce who is most likely to steal every scene in which she appears!

Only three other actors make up the rest of the ensemble, but such is their versatility, you’d think the scenes were populated with a host of characters, albeit similar-looking ones!  We have Ben Armstrong as a grieving Mormon and also as Inspector Lestrade.  The accent work is impeccable – across the board, actually – and Armstrong invariably makes a compelling presence.  Edward Manning’s Mycroft Holmes is as pompous as you’d expect; Manning also impresses as an overbearing Mormon leader and as a vicious Cockney thug.  Finally, we have Rosie Coles as a detective and a doctor – both gender-swapped roles to no detrimental effect of the storytelling –  and as a grieving woman.  This is a rare production in which all of the supporting players shine as much as the leads.

Just as some of the cast are required to be versatile, so does the set.  Holmes’s apartment serves for everywhere else in the stories.  Judicious lighting by Kat Murray goes a long way to create and distinguish the various locations, while an excellent sound design by Elliott Wallis creates atmosphere to superb effect.  His soundscapes evoke London street scenes, passing trains… helping the intimate Attic Theatre space to seem part of the larger world outside.

Partridge’s direction keeps the piece rattling along at quite a lick, but there’s never any danger of the show going off the rails.  The entire company deliver the goods with such conviction and brio, you don’t want it to end.

Bring on next year’s visit to Baker Street!

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Perfect pairing: John-Robert Partridge as Doctor Watson and (seated) Robert Moore as Holmes

(Photo: Laura Maguire)

Sound as a Hound

THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES

The Attic Theatre, Stratford upon Avon, Saturday 30^th October, 2021

This is my second production of Arthur Conan Doyle’s most famous story in two weeks.  From what I understand, there’s at least a third one doing the rounds.  There’s definitely something in the air, given the current popularity of this tale.  And what’s not to like?  An intriguing mystery, Holmes and Watson in great form, and the prospect of a supernatural beast!  Bring it on.

Heading the cast as the world’s most famous consulting detective is Robert Moore, who is quite possibly the best-looking Holmes I’ve ever seen.  Moore’s Holmes is a little imperious and condescending, but there’s humour there too, and the portrayal is nuanced so at times you can see the cogs working, and at others know when Holmes is withholding something.  This Holmes brims with pent-up energy, mental and physical and there’s never any indication of him not being in charge.

Adapter-director John-Robert Partridge appears as Doctor Watson — this case elevates Watson from the role of mere sidekick to the great man; he is permitted to investigate on his own.  Partridge’s Watson is no fool.  Somewhat lugubrious and implacable, he has a rich speaking voice and an understated authority, as though he is Holmes’s star pupil rather than just a sounding board for Holmes’s thoughts.

This excellent pairing is supported by a fine quartet of actors in all the other parts.  Ben Armitage’s Sir Henry Baskerville is laidback and easy-going, a fine contrast to the clipped tones and reserved demeanour of the detective duo.  Armitage’s Henry breezes through the action until the potential consequences dawn on him and he becomes sober and stunned.

Andrew Woolley’s Barrymore the butler is imposing and sinister —more so than his naturist Stapleton, a man prone to terrifying outbursts.  I think something more could be done to emphasise his position as a naturist; an undersized butterfly net alone doesn’t cut it.  Kate Gee Finch doubles as an underused, long-suffering Mrs Hudson, and as the tightly wound Beryl Stapleton in an effectively emotional performance.  Sarah Feltham proves invaluable as a tearful Mrs Barrymore, a guarded Laura Lyons, and a coolly professional Doctor Mortimer.

The intimate performance space of the Attic puts us right in the Baker Street apartment, with other locations suggested by dust sheets on the furniture, or through the use of lighting and sound effects.  The music and sound design by Elliott Wallis go a long way to creating an unsettling atmosphere, underscoring the action and cranking up the tension during the transitions, not least for the climactic confrontation between hound and man.  Onyx Redwood’s lighting adds to the chilling aspects of the story, with director John-Robert Partridge making superb use of complete darkness to put us on edge, as unseen figures weep, laugh, and startle us.  There’s even a kind of Woman In Black gliding around.

An atmospheric and engaging staging of a solid adaptation.  Now, with all this interest in the Hound, perhaps I should dig out the musical comedy version I wrote twenty years ago and see if anyone’s interested…

****

Robert Moore on the case as Sherlock Holmes