Enter the 1893 Victorian world of 221B Baker Street , a cold and foggy London, and Sherlock Holmes and Dr .John Watson. Conan Doyle’s stories continue to be enormously popular and now we have both ‘Sherlock’ and ‘Elementary’ on our TV screens.
Directed with a deft touch by Michael Heming, the play is performed with great relish by the cast and mightily enjoyed by the audience. Dietz first wrote his adaptation, a re-working of the 1899 Gillette play, back in the mid-2000’s, even winning the Hugo Award in 2007.
The fast paced plot niftily combines all the elements that Holmes fans have come to expect: suspense, intrigue and incisive ,witty dialogue, It combines elements of ‘ A Scandal in Bohemia’ and ‘The Final Problem’ with some neat changes and twists and added romance.
The show follows Holmes and Watson , racing against time, as they ‘assist’ the King of Bohemia in recovering an incriminating photograph that threatens to destroy the king’s impending marriage and thus the union of two great powers of Europe. Can Holmes do it? Holmes discovers that his nemesis Professor James Moriarty is also involved in the blackmailing scheme, setting the stage for a dramatic final showdown between the two mortal enemies. It opens with the news of Holmes’ ‘death’ and includes some very tense confrontation scenes between Homes and Moriarty , a very melodramatic curtain to take us to interval and an explosively powerful scene in a gasworks. Mrs Hudson , Dr Watson’s wife Mary ,Inspector Lestrade and the Baker Street Irregulars are mentioned briefly but not seen and there is no violin playing. Holmes affecionados (aka ‘Sherlockians’ ) will have great fun picking up various quotes included from other stories (eg ‘The Empty House ‘, ‘The Naval Treaty’etc).
Debbie Smith’s set design eloquently and efficiently evokes cluttered 221B with an armchair here, Landseer like paintings on the wall, a wax cylinder /gramophone .. (no VR in bullet holes though) It also allows for fluid cinematic scene changes such as to the gasworks. Michael Schell’s lighting is very atmospheric and effective.
The show is narrated by Dr John Watson , Holmes’ stalwart friend and companion , excellently played by John Grinston who gives a well rounded, intelligent performance full of warmth and concern.
John Willis–Richards as Holmes is superb, generally playing him as very dapper , elegant and finicky. We feel his ennui , delight in his battle of wits with Moriarty . He has a luminous, incisive presence. Along with Watson we decry his cocaine addiction. Willis-Richards channels Basil Rathbone somewhat and also to a degree the great Jeremy Brett and Benedict Cumberbatch . He is  catlike and a great master of disguise and accents. The whole time it is like a chess game – he is a step or two ahead of his opponents. The iconic Reichenbach Falls scenes are effectively done, with Watson’s narration extremely poignant.
With his bushy caterpillar eyebrows Marty O’Neill however as Professor Moriarty while quite good just falls short I am afraid and doesn’t match the famous descriptions or Paget drawings of the ‘Napoleon of Crime ‘ – he’s not stooped , no oscillating head . He plays Moriarty more like a Southern colonel ,and was not coldly menacing enough (although he certainly tried) .I did like his dapper, tres elegant looming first appearance in Holmes’ memory (very effective use of a screen) and the way the rose visual theme was carried through.
The tall, hulking ,pompous King of Bohemia was delightfully played by Mark Nagle straight out of the Paget illustrations. He is in some ways portrayed as Ruritanian and very silly, but still imposing His melodramatic first appearance is a little over the top.
Leading diva Irene Adler, the only woman to outwit Holmes, was scrumptiously played by Emma Medbury. Coolly scheming and intelligent she is also beautiful – no wonder she impresses Holmes and has men falling at her feet in raptures. The love scenes were delicately handled.
Spoiler alert! In this version Godfrey Norton is actually a dastardly villain, James Larrabeee, in cahoots with Morarty, Handsome Tom Atkins plays him as smooth urbane and ultra sophisticated. His spitfire sister Madge , often disguised as a maid or other servant, was very well played by Bec Piplica. And Marley Erueti is great as Sid Prince the safecracker as well as other supporting roles. other minor supporting male roles.
A very enjoyable performance . Come Watson, the game is afoot! Running time just under two hours (approx) including interval.
SHERLOCK HOLMES: THE FINAL ADVENTURE is playing the Genesian Theatre, 420 Kent Street, Sydney until Saturday 9th August.
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