THEATRE REVIEW: ‘Sherlock Holmes' (Roman Theatre of Verulamium, St. Albans)

THEATRE REVIEW: ‘Sherlock Holmes’

Written & Directed by Mark O’Sullivan.

(Roman Theatre of Verulamium, St. Albans) 

 

 

 

To complete a trilogy of al-fresco Sherlock Holmes plays  (‘Sherlock Holmes’ at the Regents Park Open Air Theatre & ‘Sherlock Holmes vs. Arsene Lupin’ at Brighton Open Air Theatre), I made my way to the Roman Theatre of Verulamium, St. Albans where I had previously seen ‘Sherlock Holmes: A Study in Lipstick, Ketchup and Blood' (a version of ‘A Study in Scarlet’) three years before.

This time, rather than being a visiting production, the production was the first play in the OVO Theatre Company’s 2026 Open Air Festival, and had been compiled by its director, Mark O’Sullivan, combining the narratives of ‘A Scandal in Bohemia’, ‘The Red-Headed League’, ‘The Devil’s Foot’, ‘The Man With The Twisted Lip’ and ‘The Final Problem’, into a play featuring four actors playing all the parts. Lachlan McCall and Anna Macleod Franklin played Holmes and Watson (as well as a couple of minor parts each), with Jessica Vickers and Max Gallagher playing all the others – including Irene Adler, Mrs. Hudson, the King of Bohemia, John Clay, Mortimer Treggenis and (a personal highlight) Dr. Leon Sterndale. As with ‘SHvAL’ there was a lot of gender-blind casting with Vickers playing many men as well as ‘the Woman’ and Gallagher giving us his Mrs. Hudson.

The play was very funny, particularly in Act One when Watson and Mrs. Hudson are attempting to not reveal to the King that Holmes is incapacitated following substance misuse by recounting previous adventures. The small set which was on several levels was also expertly used, with costume changes seemingly happening instantaneously. It all led up to an ending, which although not unique (a famous pastiche, later filmed, has the same twist), had an emotional bite despite all the silliness that had gone before. Very, very good (and unlike the other two, the weather stayed warm).

 

Dramatic Score: 7/10    (Excellent - despite this)

 

Rating:  (5/5)     

 

Link to Production Website: Sherlock Holmes - OVO Roman Theatre Open Air Festival 2026

THEATRE REVIEW: ‘Sherlock Holmes vs. Arsène Lupin: A Drag Crime Caper' (Brighton Open Air Theatre)

THEATRE REVIEW: ‘Sherlock Holmes vs. Arsène Lupin: A Drag Crime Caper’

Written & Directed by Samuel Masters.

(Brighton Open Air Theatre, 16/05/2026) 

 

A few days after ‘Sherlock Holmes’ at the Regents Park Open Air Theatre, I found myself again in an Open Air Theatre, this time in Brighton, to watch a Sherlockian play presented by the Department of Ulterior Motives (DUM) as part of Brighton Fringe. DUM is a theatre company based in Brighton, specialising in ‘bold yet accessible reinterpretations of literature and folklore’, and the previous year had offered a comedic version of GK Chesterton’s metaphysical thriller ‘The Man Who Was Thursday’. This year’s offering was a comic adaptation of the ‘Arsène Lupin vs Sherlock Holmes/Herlock Sholmes’ novels of Maurice LeBlanc (recently updated for Netflix), but as the title indicates performed in drag, ie. with all the male characters played by females and (almost) all the female characters played by males.

I therefore caught a train from East Croydon to Preston Park, where it was a twenty-minute walk to Dyke Road Park and the theatre, Watching a matinee, I had learnt nothing from a few days before, and the early sunshine having evaporated by the time of the performance, I was grateful when during the interval, theatre staff came round handing out blankets.

The play itself was absolutely hilarious with Chully Mullock’s ridiculously camp Lupin being a highlight, along with Esther Dracott’s Watson. Maria Evans’ Holmes was appropriately pompous, Alex Scarrott’s Mrs. Hudson very pantomime dame, Michael Grant’s Irene Adler appropriately arch, and Phaedra Danelli’s Josephine very funny, with excellent support from Emma Howarth, Alex Louise and Tiggie Ellison. There were several lip-synchs, a couple of ‘Drag Race’ references, masses of physical comedy, and it even ended with a 1990s power ballad. After the two outdoor performances that day, it was having a short run at the Ironworks Studios. Definitely recommended if restaged.

 

Dramatic Score: 10/10    (I’m not taking a point off for an Irene Adler with a beard)

 

Rating:  (5/5)     

THEATRE REVIEW: ‘Sherlock Holmes' (Regents Park Open Air Theatre)

THEATRE REVIEW: ‘Sherlock Holmes’

Written by Joel Horwood, Directed by Sean Holmes.

(Regents Park Open Air Theatre) 

 

‘One day in early spring Holmes had so far relaxed as to go for a walk with me in [Regents] Park, where the first faint shoots of green were breaking out upon the elms, and the sticky spear-heads of the chestnuts were just beginning to burst into their five-fold leaves’.  [YELL]

 

Being performed less than a ten minute walk away from Baker Street and the Sherlock Holmes Museum, at the Regents Park Open Air Theatre, this play was described in the pre-publicity as a ‘new adventure’ by Joel Horwood who wrote the critically acclaimed stage adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s 'The Ocean at the End of the Lane’, this was only partially true. Act One was the second adaptation of ‘The Sign of Four’ that I had seen in the space of a month (albeit with some elements of one of my favourite short stories, ‘The Bruce-Partington Plans’, and more than a little anti-British Empire/ colonial social commentary). Act Two took the story off in a new direction (concluding ‘TBPP’) leading up to both a Reichenbach moment and a grand revelation that was written with the smugness of a writer who has never seen ‘The Crucifer of Blood’ another SIGN stage adaptation and thinks that they have come up with a unique ending. (That said, this production does take it one stage further, with another revelatory twist that half the audience seemed to be muttering along with the actors). A running joke about animals having been released from the Regents Park zoo (leading to a Lion riding a bike in the background at one point) was also stretched to capacity.

However, the main performances were very good with Joshua James’ Holmes (introduced in a RDJ-style boxing scene) walking the line between being maddening and impressively intelligent, and Jyuddah Jaymes’ black Watson and Nadi Kemp-Sayfi’s mixed-race Mary adding to the anti-Empire sentiment. Marcia Lecky’s Mrs. Hudson was under-used, and Mervin Noronha’s Tonga (no longer either a Pygmy or a savage) was an excellent dancer and second-half antagonist. The ensemble were also excellent, particularly in the opening Agra Fort scene and in a circus scene.

It was possibly a little long, particularly on what turned out to be a very cold May night, but I enjoyed the performance, and purchased both a poster and a postcard as well as a programme.

‘Sherlock Holmes’ runs at the Regents Park Open Air Theatre until 6^th June 2026.

  

Dramatic Score: 7½/10

Rating:  (4/5)     

A Novel Adaptation - 2024 Update

Previously in this blog, I have pitted the various dramatisations of the four Sherlock Holmes novels – ‘A Study in Scarlet’, ‘The Sign of Four’, ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’ and ‘The Valley of Fear’ – against each other by medium. Since my original posts (in 2021 and 2022), I have experienced ten more such dramatisations, and so am posting what may become an annual update.

 

‘A STUDY IN SCARLET’

No further full dramatisations, but the first episode of podcast ‘Sherlock & Co’ utilises the first two chapters.

Click here for up-to-date dramatisations list.

 

‘THE SIGN OF FOUR’

Four further dramatisations across three different media (bringing the total to 24). The first (in 2021) was an online dramatisation on Facebook Live by Jonathan Goodwin (Don't Go Into The Cellar Theatre Company), which has since been produced in person around the country.

The second (also in 2021) was ’The Sign of Mary’, an episode of the anime series ‘Moriarty the Patriot’ based on a successful manga, featuring (in the English dub) Theo Devaney and Ryan Colt Levy as Holmes and Watson, and Elsie Lovelock as Mary. The series focuses on the ‘bad guys’ but I enjoyed this take on SIGN.

The next was a new opera from ‘Northern Opera Group’, which was the centrepiece of 2024’s ‘Leeds Opera Festival’, and was written by Lliam Paterson. Click here for my review.

Most recently, ‘Sherlock and Co’ which is a weekly drama podcast, in which a modern-day Holmes and Watson (Harry Attwell & Paul Waggott) podcast their canonical adventures. SIGN was their longest adventure yet (10 parts) and rounded out 2024. Despite going on for over six hours, the pace doesn’t let up, as it rushes to a surprising conclusion.  

 

  

Click here for up-to-date dramatisations list.

 

‘THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES’

Since my original post I have seen five further stage productions of HOUND, and listened to another audio version (bringing the total to 56 versions). The first of these was an open-air production in the Clandon Wood Natural Burial Site presented by British Touring Shakespeare in 2021, and ran my previous favourite outdoors version close, without quite taking the prize. Click here for my review.

The second was an immersive dinner theatre version later in 2021 from Lost Estate, with the unwieldy title ‘The Great Murder Mystery: London’s Secret Sherlock Holmes Experience’. The food and ambience was excellent, but the dramatisation (by Gillian Greer) was just adequate.

The next stage version, a live radio play on stage from the Crime & Comedy Theatre Company, added another name to ‘actors who have played both The Doctor (in ‘Doctor Who’) and Sherlock Holmes’ – Sixth Doctor actor, Colin Baker, with Terry ‘Davros’ Molloy as his Watson. I saw the play in Redhill in 2022, but it has toured regularly since then, with other WHO guest stars appearing with them as selected venues. The adaptation was well-paced and I enjoyed myself.

The fourth stage version was one that I was due to see in person at the Barbican Centre in London in December 2022, a concert with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, featuring a score specially written by Neil Brand, with Mark Gatiss as Holmes and Sanjeev Bhaskar as Watson. However, I was not feeling well on the night, and so had to wait to hear it a few months later on BBC Radio 3, and then more excitingly watch a recording of it on BBC4 the next Christmas. Highly recommended if it is ever repeated (but you may be able to find it online).

The final stage version was a one-man version, again featuring Jonathan Goodwin (DGITC), seen above a Pub in Croydon. It was a good adaptation, but the loud music eminating from the main bar was a little distracting.

In early 2021, Audible followed up a previous very mediocre new adventure for Holmes and Watson, with an audio dramatisation of HOUND, now featuring Colin Salmon and Stephen Fry as our heroes, about which the least said the better. Click here for my review.  

       

Click here for up-to-date dramatisations list.

 

‘THE VALLEY OF FEAR’

No further dramatisations.

Click here for up-to-date dramatisations list.

 

My favourites across each media remain the same as in my previous posts.

THEATRE REVIEW: ‘Sherlock Holmes: A Study in Lipstick, Ketchup and Blood' (Roman Theatre of Verulamium, St. Albans)

 

 Written by Lesley Hart, Directed by Marc Small.

 

Originally performed at the Pitlochry Festival Theatre in 2022 (where it is returning later this year), this is on the surface an adaptation of the first Sherlock Holmes novel, ‘A Study in Scarlet’. However, it is far more complicated than that, the play is set in a blasted world, where two survivors – an actor and a doctor – pass the time by staging the actor’s favourite story salvaged from the flames, ‘ASIS’. As the play continues, and tensions arise around casting, more than just dead bodies with ketchup as blood start to surface.

Somewhere in the middle of this 70 minute play is a wonderful 45 minute dramatisation of the novel, which manages to hit all the plot points brilliantly. However, what about the framing action ?  I enjoyed this very much as well, with the slowly building tensions being excellent, even if the sometimes strong language moved the play out of the arena of ‘family friendly’.

The Roman Theatre in St. Albans where the play was appearing as part of their Open Air Theatre Festival, prior to its return to Pitlochry, was a wonderfully intimate space, and all the audience were almost on top of the two actors. Appearing as Harry (the actor) was Deidre Davis, who for around half of the play played both Holmes & Watson, being ably assisted by Ben Stock as Ash (the doctor). Both were excellent, both in the play within a play and in the surrounding discussions, building to a moving climax.

Highly recommended. 

 

Dramatic Score: 8/10

Rating:  (5/5)