A further Sherlockian production from ‘Fareham Musical Society’, having enjoyed their version of ‘The Sign of Four’ last year (see here for a brief review), meant that I decided to revisit Holmes’ birthplace, Portsmouth and Southsea. [My previous sojourn can be found here].
Before beginning on the Sherlockian sites that I had missed on my previous visits, on my train journey down I made a brief detour to Cosham and the North Harbour, which contains the main headquarters of IBM UK Ltd, which appeared in the ‘Doctor Who’ story ‘Revelation of the Daleks’, starring Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant. The site is private property so I had to make do with photos from a distance.
Catching a bus into central Portsmouth, passing ‘Doyle Court’ in Hilsea (the next building along is ‘Kipling Court’), until I reached Portsmouth City Museum. Having wandered round ‘A Study in Sherlock: Uncovering the Arthur Conan Doyle Collection’ (the temporary ‘You don't know Sherlock Holmes… yet’ exhibition having finished), I checked whether the shop had any new Sherlockian merchandise (which it didn’t), before making my way down towards the waterfront, and 4 Southsea Terrace, where Conan Doyle and his first wife Touie lived here for six weeks in May-June 1896, whilst awaiting the completion of ‘Undershaw’, their purpose-built home in Hindhead, Surrey.
Walking past Touie’s former home, I made my way up Osborne Road and then into Clarendon Road, until I reached ‘Sherlock’s Bar’, which opened in July 2020. The bar is open Thursdays to Saturdays 5pm-11pm and Sundays 12pm-11pm. However, on Tuesdays and Wednesdays between 11am and 2pm they host Spark Community Space’s Cuppa & Cake drop-in sessions. SCS is a local charity, working to reach those who have been left out or left behind, to give people a place to belong, to be part of a community of support, to heal together and to spark back into life. Having taken photographs of the outside of the café, I was invited in for a drink and a cheese toastie for a donation to the charity, which also allowed me to get photos of the inside, including a very impressive portrait of Basil Rathbone.
Fed and watered, I made my way towards the spot that I always visit when in Portsmouth, Holmes’ ‘birthplace’. Halfway there, I popped into Southsea Library which had a display in relation to ‘Mr. Doyle’s Class Presents A STUDY IN SCARLET’, a graphic novel produced by the Conan Doyle Collection at the Central Library.
Finally, I reached Bush House. It here in 1882 that Conan Doyle opened his practice of ophthalmology. His lack of clientele left him plenty of time to read, write and he began to publish short stories, but without great success. However, in 1887, he wrote ‘A Study in Scarlet’, which features Sherlock Holmes for the first time. Plaques indicate the site’s literary significance.
I then made my way
to the outskirts of Portsmouth, and a Public House a short distance from a church
hall where in 2019 I saw a double bill of
dramatisations of ‘The Man With the Twisted Lip’ and ‘The Dying Detective’.
The lounge bar of the Northcote Hotel
is decorated with film memorabilia going back to the comedians of the silent
era and the most famous of all fictional detectives, Sherlock Holmes. Sitting in the SH corner, I supped on my pint (of Pepsi Max).
Returning to the main road, I caught a bus back to Portsmouth and Southsea Station, before moving round the corner to the Conan Doyle bench, to have another sit down.
Grabbing some food, I then made my way to the New Theatre Royal, and took my seat for ‘Sherlock Holmes: The Scarlet Woman’. The show was based on ‘A Scandal in Bohemia’, but another story was woven in and took up a large proportion of the second half. The script by Nick Scovell (who also appeared as Watson) was perfect, and it was great to see him reunited with Jonathan Redwood as Holmes, Grace Campbell as Mary and Alison Dea as Mrs Hudson. This time they were joined by Ben Lidster as Lestrade, Graeme Clements as a wonderful Shinwell Johnson, Roger Trencher as the mysterious Camille (whose true identity was clear to me from the outset so much did he look like the Strand illustration), Alan Backhouse as Mycroft, Paul Denney as the King, and Beth Marshall as ‘the woman’. Very, very good. I will continue to look out for any future Sherlockian shows by this group.
Feeling very tired, I made my way back to the station, then home, arriving just before 1am.
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