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50TH ANNIVERSARY YEAR

Daily Info, Oxford

Sherlock Holmes and the Limehouse Horror

Conan Doyle's master detective rides again in new Phillip Pullman mystery.

Oxford Theatre Guild, Old Fire Station, 6 - 10 December 2005

Sherlock Holmes and the Limehouse Horror is a somewhat short, slightly silly play by well known children's novelist Phillip Pullman. The story is based on (or rather, inspired by) a throwaway line in The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire, in which Holmes refers to 'the giant rat of Sumatra, a story for which the world is not yet prepared!' the Limehouse Horror tells that very story.

The play is performed by the Oxford Theatre Guild, Oxford's largest company of non-professional players. It is perhaps the large pool of potential actors which allows this production to do so well in its casting. There is not a single cast member who does not look every inch the part. Warwick Yolks' portly Dr Watson, and Sheila McKean's terrifyingly domestic Mrs Hudson are particularly choice picks. Similar attention to detail has clearly been paid to the sets, with a fabulous recreation of 221B Baker Street in the Old Fire Station Studio Theatre.

The sets, however, do lead to one slight problem. The Baker Street set is fabulously designed – complete in every detail, right down to the wing chairs by the fireplace, Holmes' desk, and even his violin. However actually setting up and taking down this set takes about a quarter of an hour, and as a result what is essentially a one-act play winds up having two intervals, each one taking approximately fifteen minutes. These breaks have a rather strange effect on the play, giving it an almost episodic feel. A scene ends, there is a ripple of applause, and then you chat amongst yourselves for a bit while the next part is set up.

The play is essentially a charming piece of light entertainment – almost pantomime-like at times. Joseph Adams is fabulously over the top as the villainous Julius Reichenbach, swishing about the stage in eveningwear and purring at people. Indeed he is so utterly dastardly that the audience began to spontaneously boo and hiss at his devilish schemes. It is a work of gentle parody, its tongue never far from its cheek, in which all the great Holmesian devices are lovingly combined into a single tale full of disguises, deductions and duplicity.

All in all it's a decent little play. It has a fine cast, a silly plot, and pretty much everything you could want from an evening's family entertainment. It is a little short, particularly given that there's around half an hour given over to interval in a productiosn that runs a little under ninety minutes. Ticket prices are between eight and twelve pounds, which is on the high end for the OFS, and some audience members may want a little more for their money.

Dan Hemmens, 07/12/05

SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE LlMEHOUSE HORROR: OLD FIRE STATION

A new Sherlock Holmes? Written by famed Oxford author Philip Pullman? Well, not exactly new, although the title has been freshly minted. Pullman's play was first performed in 1985 at the Polka Children's Theatre, Wimbledon, under the title Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Sumatran Rat, the original idea coming from one of Conan Doyle's own stories, The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire.

How does the great detective polish up in 2005? In this Oxford Theatre Guild production, Holmes (Adrian Porter,) looks comparatively young - perhaps that's why he doesn't seem quite as sure of himself (or, dare one say, as patronisingly smug) as is usually the case.

Warwick Yolks, on the other hand, provides a traditional, portly, and reliable Dr Watson - when a mysterious young lady (Alice Fearn) arrives at 221B Baker Street and promptly faints, Watson is quickly on hand with a medicinal brandy. Without giving the story away, all sorts of other colourful characters appear through clouds of appropriately melodramatic fog, among them the evil Julius Reichenbach (Joseph Adams), and a robust Colonel (David Thurston).

So far, so good. But this production has a problem. Director Jackie Keirs seems uncertain whether she is dealing with a mystery thriller, or a glorious parody of the Sherlock Holmes oeuvre. While matters improve in the second half, the cast often seem ill at ease, and the timing is sometimes so slow that it creates neither tension nor humour. At least Holmes acquires some of his customary poise by the end: "Genius, yes, madam," he announces, "But luck? Do not put my successes down to luck, madam."