Sherlockian Sojourns - Special # 9b: ‘I Can Never Resist A Dramatic Situation’ [MAZA] – Sherlock Holmes’ London Theatres – Part 2: Lyric Theatre & Theatre Royal Haymarket

 

Having visited five theatres with Sherlockian or Doylean connections on a previous sojourn (including a ‘Behind The Scenes’ tour of the Lyceum), it was time to add two further theatres on one of my weekly theatre visits.

Opening its doors for the first time in December 1888, the Lyric Theatre is the oldest surviving theatre on London’s street of theatres, Shaftesbury Avenue. Designed by the architect C J Phipps, it was originally built for operetta and has since hosted a wide range of drama, comedy and musicals. It is currently home to ‘Hadestown’, a Broadway musical which intertwines two love stories from Greek Myth – that of young dreamers Orpheus and Eurydice, and that of King Hades and his wife Persephone - in a score that is a joyful combination of folk, pop, Dixieland and blues. This was the main reason for my visit. However, the Lyric Theatre was also the location for two of Conan Doyle’s non-Sherlockian plays.

The first, in May to June 1906, featured Conan Doyle’s third most prominent hero (after Holmes and Challenger), Brigadier Etienne Gerard, a French Hussar of the Napoleonic army, who appears in a total of 18 stories. ‘Brigadier Gerard’ was a 4-act play written by Conan Doyle, which starred Lewis Waller as the title character. (Waller also played Gerard in the silent movie 'Brigadier Gerard' in 1915). In his autobiography, ‘Memories and Adventures’ (1924), Conan Doyle described his star as “a glorious fellow”, stating that “his premature death [was] a great blow to our stage”, and finally commenting “What virility! What a face and figure!”.

The second also starred Waller, this time as the hero, Colonel Cyril Egerton, in ‘The Fires of Fate’, another 4-act play written by Conan Doyle (this one subtitled ‘A Modern Morality Play’), which was based on his novel, ‘The Tragedy of the Korosko’, concerning a group of European tourists travelling on the Nile in Egypt on a boat such named when some Dervish warriors come alongside the boat threatening the passengers. This play was first performed at the Lyric Theatre between 15th  June 1909 and 11th August 1909, before transferring to the nearby Theatre Royal Haymarket from 12th to 31st August 1909, starring Ben Webster replacing Waller who started a provincial touring from 23rd August with a new cast. The play then returned back to the Lyric Theatre from 6th September until 9th October 1909.

 

Having some time to waste before the show, I made my way to the theatre via the Haymarket, and stopped to take photos of the outside of the Theatre Royal, where ‘The Fires of Fate’ had its second run. which I last attended to watch ‘Only Fools and Horses: The Musical’. The Theatre Royal Haymarket, is a Grade I listed building designed and constructed by John Potter in 1720. It is one of Britain’s most treasured theatres, and is the third oldest London Playhouse still in use. This theatre also has a canonical connection as it was here that Jonas Oldacre claimed to have been whilst his wife and her lover ran off with his life savings in ‘The Retired Colourman’.

“On that particular evening old Amberley, wishing to give his wife a treat, had taken two upper circle seats at the Haymarket Theatre. At the last moment she had complained of a headache and had refused to go. He had gone alone. There seemed to be no doubt about the fact, for he produced the unused ticket which he had taken for his wife.” – JHW  [RETI]

Making my way up Haymarket, I reached Piccadilly Circus and then Shaftesbury Avenue. The Lyric is the first theatre in, and I took some photos of the outside, before having my bag checked and making the climb up the multitude of stairs to my Balcony seat. Once in my seat, I manged to take a few photos of the auditorium as it filled up, but there was a much better photo of the interior in my programme.

   

   

After an enjoyable evening, I made my way back to Shaftesbury Avenue, and the Underground, wending my way home.

Sherlockian Sojourns #64: As Seen on Screen – Back to Bristol

An event as part of Bristol’s ‘Slapstick’ festival took me back to my father’s birthplace. However, to make the trip worthwhile I decided to visit some filming locations from ‘Sherlock’ missed on a previous sojourn (as well as sites from the most recent episodes of ‘Doctor Who’).

Catching a coach from Victoria Coach Station, all was going well until we got onto the M4, where a sign indicated that due to an accident all three lanes were closed ahead. The driver therefore left the motorway, making his way across country to rejoin the motorway just past Slough. Therefore, I arrived at Bristol Bus and Coach Station an hour later than planned.

A fifteen minute walk brought me to Broad Street where two buildings provided interiors in ‘Sherlock’ – the Old Guildhall which provided a St. Bartholomew’s Hospital Morgue Corridor in ‘A Scandal in Belgravia’ and the former site of a branch of the Bank of England which featured as the Bank being robbed in ‘The Sign of Three’.

On the other side of the road was ‘Chez Marcel’, a crêperie (unfortunately due to time constraints, I couldn’t creep in, have a crêpe, then creep out again), which appeared in the final of the three ‘Doctor Who 60th Anniversary Specials’, ‘The Giggle’, as the exterior of the Toyshop where Stooky Bill is bought and where the Doctor and Donna confront the Toymaker.

 

A short walk up Broad Street was Corn Street where the exterior shots of the Orpheum Theatre in ‘Without a Clue’ were filmed.  (I had visited Hackney Empire which provides the interior the year before). The street also appears in the very Sherlockian ‘Doctor Who’ episode, ‘The Snowmen’.

  

At the end of the street, I reached the junction with Clare Street and St. Stephen’s Street, where the Doctor and Donna first see the Toymaker who dances with the Doctor on the instantly recognisable black and white tiles in ‘The Giggle’. The Doctor is also seen standing by the nearby St. Stephen’s Church.

Moving to my next stop. I passed three sites from ‘The Abominable Bride’ visited on my previous sojourn – Queen Square where the Ricoletti Balcony was located, The Famous Royal Navy Volunteer Public House which appeared as the Criterion Bar, and the courtyard of Bristol Cathedral where the second attack took place.

I also made a detour to a building which features in two classic ‘Only Fools and Horses’ locations – the exterior of the Wine Bar in ‘Yuppy Love’ (where Del later falls through the bar, filmed elsewhere), and the exterior of the 1-2-1 Casino and Club in ‘Fatal Extraction’.

I then reached the statue of my namesake, Archibald Leach, known professionally as Cary Grant.

     

It was then time for my longest walk, and after twenty minutes reached 6 Berkeley Square where filming had taken place for an as yet untransmitted ‘Doctor Who’ episode featuring Ncuti Gatwa as the Doctor.

A three minute walk brought me to Bristol Museum and Art Gallery which featured in Jodie Whittaker’s last episode, ‘The Power of the Doctor’, being where Ace investigates a missing painting for UNIT in a London Art Gallery.

Walking to my next stop, I found that the Bristol branch of Forbidden Planet was closed due to a fire above the store, but continued past it to Park Place where Ruby gets off the bus in ‘The Church on Ruby Road’.

 

Continuing up the road, I entered Frederick Place, where Ruby and her family (and the mysterious Mrs Flood live). The TARDIS landed by the junction with Wetherell Place.

Retracing my steps, and passing the Victoria Rooms, which featured as a courthouse in ‘The Sign of Three’, I made my way back to the harbourside area, and Watershed, Bristol’s independent cinema and creative technology centre.

After about half-an-hour’s wait, I was allowed into the cinema for my booked event – ‘Same Time Tomorrow’ – a celebration of the late Barry Cryer, featuring his son (and biographer) Bob Cryer sharing memories and anecdotes. In his latter years, Barry collaborated with Bob on three projects all related to the indomitable 221b housekeeper, Mrs. Hudson – a book ‘Mrs Hudson’s Diaries: A View From the Landing at 221B’ (2014), a Christmas show at Wiltons Music Hall ‘Mrs Hudson’s Christmas Corker’ (2014), and BBC Radio 4’s ‘Mrs Hudson’s Radio Show’ (2018) which comprised two episodes and featured Bob as Inspector Lestrade.

Following the event and a Q&A, I joined a medium length queue to get my book (which was also called ‘Same Time Tomorrow’, Barry’s sort of catchphrase) signed by Bob. The queue moved very slowly, with Bob encouraging attendees to sit down at the signing table with him to have a chat with him about his Dad as he signed. Finally it was my turn, and Bob was ecstatic on seeing my copy of ‘Mrs Hudson’s Diaries’.

“So, you’re the other person who bought it”, said Bob, signing it with the message ‘If the game’s afoot, what are the rules ?’, then my copy of ‘Same Time Tomorrow’.

They chatted about Sherlock Holmes, with Bob revealing that they are attempting to mount a second series of ‘Mrs Hudson’s Radio Show’, given the amazing interplay between Patricia Hodge and Miriam Margolyees in the first series.

I then asked for a photo with Bob, which another attendee kindly took.

Thanking Bob and shaking him by the hand, I made my way back to the Bus and Coach Station, picking up food from a nearby supermarket on the way. I was half-an-hour early for my coach, but it left early, and even arrived in London fifteen minutes early.