Adapted by Nick Lane, from
the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle,
Directed by Nick Lane.
Another Sherlockian production from the same production company (Blackeyed Theatre) that I had previously seen tackle ‘The Sign of Four’ in 2018 and ‘The Valley of Fear’ in 2022, this time with a new Holmes and Watson (Mark Knightley and Ben Owara). I saw the production at the newly refurbished Yvonne Arnaud Theatre in Guildford as part of its UK tour. On arrival, getting a programme was straightforward, but finding a copy of the advertised playscript was a little more difficult, and having already purchased the programme, I was unable to make use of a combo deal when I finally found them on sale in the cloakroom at the interval.
The play started with Watson and Mrs. Hudson (Pippa Caddick) standing in the burnt out remains of the 221b study, after it had been set on fire by members of Moriarty’s organisation (as per ‘The Final Problem’) mourning the death of Holmes, whilst the stage crew moved items about as firemen. We then moved back in time to the start of Holmes’ active hunting for Moriarty, including elements of ‘The Bruce-Partington Plans’, ‘A Scandal in Bohemia’, ‘The Second Stain’, ‘The Naval Treaty’ and ‘The Priory School’, leading up to the journey to the continent of ‘The Final Problem’, before a return to the burnt out Baker Street for an ending that I won’t spoil.
Trying to cover so many canonical tales in a running time of around two-and-a-half hours (plus interval) meant that some stories got rather short-shrift, with what I would consider to be the key scene of some being ignored for time reasons. Despite this, I enjoyed this rapid run through classic Holmes stories, even if some of my fellow patrons mumbled on the way out that they had found it difficult to keep up with what was happening.
As per previous productions, the four actors not playing Holmes and Watson played multiple roles (eighteen between them), and it was nice to have Gavin Molloy reprising his role as Moriarty from ‘The Valley of Fear’ (his Lestrade was also a personal highlight). Special praise must also go to Caddick’s Mrs Hudson & Irene Adler.
Definitely worth catching if it comes to a theatre near you. (Click here for tour dates)
Dramatic Score: 9/10
Rating: 
(4½/5)
