March 26, 2009
Performed by the Domino Players at Lains Barn, near Wantage Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s A Study in Scarlet introduced to the public of Victorian Britain a man who would become the iconic detective of English fiction, Sherlock Holmes. Like many a famous novelist since (and plenty of less famous ones too, no doubt), Conan Doyle had to endure the frustration and disappointment of rejection from several publishers, before it was accepted for publication and printed as part of Beeton’s Christmas Annual in 1887. It is not a flawless work, being in essence novella-length crime novel into which a rather melodramatic “flash-back” story was shoe-horned in order, presumably, to bulk it out to the required length.
Charlotte Morgan and David Weaver wisely ignored this insertion, and concentrated instead on the detective story, and on the character and methods of Holmes. They advertise their play as being an authentic adaptation, and this is one of its strengths - and occasionally weaknesses - relying wherever possible on Conan Doyle’s original words and detailed storyline. Whether it is Watson describing how, after being invalided out of the army “I naturally gravitated to London, that great cesspool into which all the loungers and idlers of the Empire are irresistibly drained” or Holmes demonstrating “the most practical medico-legal discovery for years... an infallible test for blood stains”, we get a real feel for the style of the original.
Michael Hurd does not match the typical image of the tall, “excessively lean” Holmes, with “hawk-like nose”, which Conan Doyle describes and illustrators later enshrined in the public’s consciousness, but he nevertheless gave an impressive and confident performance. Andy Allen had the equally difficult task of playing the narrator cum companion Dr Watson, a self-effacing role which he tackled bravely. Unlike Nigel Stock, who was in his mid-40s when he played him in a BBC TV series, he was authentically younger and nearer the age that Conan Doyle envisaged when he made him an army doctor invalided out after a relatively short time of service in Afghanistan. The rest of the cast supported enthusiastically, but perhaps much of the pleasure as to be found in the deductive powers of Holmes (“You have been in Afghanistan, I perceive” he says on first meeting Watson) and his eccentric behaviour and views. When Watson expresses amazement that he doesn’t know the earth orbits the sun, Holmes insists that if the earth went round the moon, “it would make not the slightest difference to me or my work”. I am inclined to agree with him!
A word of warning: I was told the rest of the week is sold out. Sorry!
Charlotte Morgan and David Weaver wisely ignored this insertion, and concentrated instead on the detective story, and on the character and methods of Holmes. They advertise their play as being an authentic adaptation, and this is one of its strengths - and occasionally weaknesses - relying wherever possible on Conan Doyle’s original words and detailed storyline. Whether it is Watson describing how, after being invalided out of the army “I naturally gravitated to London, that great cesspool into which all the loungers and idlers of the Empire are irresistibly drained” or Holmes demonstrating “the most practical medico-legal discovery for years... an infallible test for blood stains”, we get a real feel for the style of the original.
Michael Hurd does not match the typical image of the tall, “excessively lean” Holmes, with “hawk-like nose”, which Conan Doyle describes and illustrators later enshrined in the public’s consciousness, but he nevertheless gave an impressive and confident performance. Andy Allen had the equally difficult task of playing the narrator cum companion Dr Watson, a self-effacing role which he tackled bravely. Unlike Nigel Stock, who was in his mid-40s when he played him in a BBC TV series, he was authentically younger and nearer the age that Conan Doyle envisaged when he made him an army doctor invalided out after a relatively short time of service in Afghanistan. The rest of the cast supported enthusiastically, but perhaps much of the pleasure as to be found in the deductive powers of Holmes (“You have been in Afghanistan, I perceive” he says on first meeting Watson) and his eccentric behaviour and views. When Watson expresses amazement that he doesn’t know the earth orbits the sun, Holmes insists that if the earth went round the moon, “it would make not the slightest difference to me or my work”. I am inclined to agree with him!
A word of warning: I was told the rest of the week is sold out. Sorry!