THEATRE REVIEW: 'A Sherlock Carol' (Marylebone Theatre)

 

THEATRE REVIEW: A Sherlock Carol

Written & Directed by Mark Shanahan.

(Marylebone Theatre, London) 

 

 

The show of the 2022 Christmas season was clearly ‘A Christmas Carol’, with five other versions playing in London and Stratford-upon-Avon – at the Old Vic (with Owen Teale as Scrooge), at the Bridge Theatre (Simon Russell-Beale), at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in the Southbank Centre (Robert Bathurst), at the Rose Theatre in Kingston (Penny Layden), and at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre (Adrian Edmondson). There had also been three new television versions on Netflix (Luke Evans), Sky (Surrane Jones) and Apple TV (Ryan Reynolds), along with a filmed version of the previous Christmas’ version at Alexandra Palace (adapted by and starring Mark Gatiss) on BBC4. However, it was another version that interested me, ‘A Sherlock Carol’ by Mark Shanahan, which had had a successful off-Broadway run over Christmas 2021. Unsurprisingly, this combined the story of ‘ACC’ with a certain consulting detective, and had found its perfect home literally three minutes around the corner from the Sherlock Holmes Museum at the Marylebone Theatre. 

I caught the play in its final week, getting a central seat, around three-quarters of the way back. I was very much looking forward to this, and had bought an ‘ASC’ bauble alongside my programme. My hopes were all met, and I was hooked from the moment one of the characters intoned ‘Moriarty was dead to begin with’. [Even the breaking of four of my rules  (1,3,5,7) didn't affect my enjoyment] The story took place soon after Holmes’ return to London following the ‘Great Hiatus’ where he travelled incognito for three years, having seemingly died at the Reichenbach Falls. Therefore, we find ourselves many years after the events of ‘ACC’, with Tiny Tim having grown to be a doctor at a poor hospital. We also find a Holmes being haunted by the memory of Professor Moriarty, his only true foe, isolating himself from all his former friends, including the reliable Watson. However, an impossible murder of a reformed miser, a threatening letter, and the missing Blue Carbuncle proves to be just enough to intrigue the great detective, and enable him to overcome his own ghosts.

The story makes excellent use of its sources, with the Christmas tale of ‘The Blue Carbuncle’, running alongside a new mystery for Holmes to solve, with ‘ACC’ providing the structure within which they take place. I found myself regularly smiling at throw-away references to both its main sources.

Playing the sullen Holmes was Ben Caplan, most famous for being the police officer who marries Miranda Hart’s character in ‘Call The Midwife’, and opposite him as Scrooge was Kammy Darweish, best known to me as the hilarious guru from ‘Doctor Who - Survivors of the Flux’. Both were excellent. The other four actors played a multitude of parts between them, including many from both the Sherlockian and ‘ACC’ canons. I would wish to draw particular attention to Richard James whose excellent Doctor Watson (underused due to the plot), was only topped by his pantomime dame-esque Mrs Dilber, Scrooge’s housekeeper. The costumes were amazing, and the ever-changing set brought many different Victorian locales to life.

I would hope that this production might become a regular London Christmas tradition for me, preferably still playing at the Marylebone Theatre. Definitely recommended should it be revived next year.

 

Rating: (5/5)