Day One: ‘The Whitechapel Fiend’
The announcement of not one but two new Sherlockian plays in well-respected local theatres in Western England meant that a sojourn was planned. My initial destination was Bristol, where I had toured some filming locations less than a month before. My coach pulled into the Bristol stop bang on time, but I had a half hour wait for my connecting coach, to nearby Weston-Super-Mare. This also left on time, but due to heavy traffic and roadworks the one hour journey took double this, seriously ruining my tight timetable. I therefore decided to postpone my planned dash back to Bristol to visit Hengrove Park and the former site of Bristol Airport which appeared as the modern-day Airfield in ‘Sherlock: The Abominable Bride’.
Having grabbed some lunch from a nearby supermarket, a five minute walk brought me to Weston Museum, which was hosting ‘Adventures in Time and Space: 60 Years of Doctor Who Art’. This was a display of the original artwork from Target novelisations, other books, comics, BBC video covers, Big Finish audio plays, and even the portrait of Ace from a deleted scene in ‘Silver Nemesis’. I slowly wandered round the whole exhibition, taking photos of the Sixth Doctor related items, and the cabinets of merchandise.
Passing under ‘Pinwheel’ created by local graffiti artist, Banksy, for his dystopian theme park ‘Dismaland’ which was housed in the former site of the Tropicana waterpark on Weston’s promenade, I made my way to Clara’s Cottage, which transported me back to the early 1900s, showing what houses in Weston were like. A large display of dolls representing all English Kings and Queens brought back nostalgic memories of my maternal grandmother who collected similar dolls, and took me to Weston on multiple occasions as a young boy.
Having browsed the other galleries, and looked in the gift shop, which was not offering items I did not already have or could buy closer to home, save a ‘Knit Your Own Doctor Who Scarf’ kit, I made my way out of the museum and walked the five minutes to the promenade and Weston beach. As in my youth, the tide was a very long way out, but I sat on a bench wallowing in nostalgia.
It was then a twenty minute walk back to Weston Station, where I bought a ticket back to Bristol Temple Meads, staying on the same train using my pre-bought ticket to Swindon. Arriving half-an-hour earlier than planned, I browsed some of the local shops, before catching the #51 bus to Cirencester. This was also scheduled to take an hour, but luckily there were no traffic problems so I was dropped in the Market Square bang on time. My accommodation for the night was three minutes away, and having checked in, I made my way back to the Market Place, and along a main road, grabbing some food on the way, until I reached The Barn Theatre, where my evening’s entertainment was to be ‘Sherlock Holmes and the Whitechapel Fiend’, a comedy adventure in which Conan Doyle's fictional Victorian London collides with the 1888 Whitechapel Murders.
Having bought a programme, I settled into my seat a few rows back, to enjoy four actors constantly swapping parts, multiple running gaps, amazing set design (including two separate pits). I found myself laughing heartily in places, and even sussed out Jack’s identity. (see here for a fuller review).
Returning to my accommodation, I watched a few videos on my iPad before turning in for the night.
Day Two: ‘The Poison Wood’
Retracing my steps of the previous evening, I found myself waiting for the #51 bus outside the Barn Theatre. This arrived on time, and I made my way back to Swindon. Walking up to the Station, I was in plenty of time for my booked train, which arrived a few minutes late, due to another train which was only for alighting passengers beating them into the platform. (The announcements not to board the train seemed to be being ignored by almost everyone).
A fifteen minute journey brought me to Dicot Parkway (visited in a previous Sojourn). Hurrying to the bus stop outside the station, it looked like my planned bus #X34 was due to arrive on time. However, after about a minute the display changed to indicate that the next bus was only going part of the route (all #X34’s go to a nearby supermarket, but only one an hour goes all the way to Newbury). The Newbury service was then advertised as fifteen minutes away for fifteen minutes. However, finally the service arrived, and I spent the entire journey worrying that I would miss my connection at the other end. However, the driver managed to make up time en-route and I arrived five minutes before the due date of my next bus. A ten minute journey on the #4 bus brought me to the outskirts of Bagnor, and a twenty minute walk brought me to the picturesque Watermill Theatre.
I was early, so decided to have a meal in the bar area. The Watermill also has a highly-regarded restaurant, but this needed to be pre-booked and I was concerned that I would not be able to get there by the required time. A ham-and-cheese Panini and a bucketful of chips (with tomato sauce and mayonnaise dips) very much hit the spot, and just as I was finishing staff members came round selling programmes, and as I had pre-booked one, handed it over for me to read as I finished my meal.
Making my way to the theatre itself, I was very amused by a ‘lost’ poster on one of the wooden supports, and also a display of SH related books from a local bookshop. Taking my seat towards the back of the Circle, I settled in for ‘Sherlock Holmes and the Poison Wood’, a musical that I had originally seen in a cutdown form at London’s The Other Palace as part of MTFest 2023 in February 2023, with the same actors playing Lestrade and Moriarty. It turned out that I had booked for the Relaxed Performance which also featured surtitles. However, by sitting up in my seat I could use the venue’s roof to obscure these as I was finding them distracting. The music was amazing, the actors wonderful and the script very funny. (see here for fuller review)
Following the final bows, I realised that I could just catch a bus back into Newbury (the next one not being for two hours after that), so hurried back to the required stop, twenty-five minutes walk away. Back in central Newbury, I wasted time in shops, before catching a late-running train back to London Paddington, from where I slowly made my way home, feeling very tired. It certainly had been a dramatic couple of days.
