Premiered in 1988, Jeremy Paul’s play The Secret Of Sherlock Holmes centres on a seemingly deadly encounter between Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous detective Holmes and his nemesis, arch criminal Professor Moriarty, at Reichenbach Falls. As secrets and betrayal are slowly revealed, Watson finds his loyalty and friendship tested to the very limit, Holmes is forced to turn his unswerving powers of deduction upon himself and the true relationship between Holmes and Moriarty is finally revealed.
The Secret Of Sherlock Holmes, Duchess Theatre
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2.4 (7) |  |
0.0 (0) |
| Venue | Duchess (click for full venue information) |
General
| Genres | Thriller - Mystery - Whodunnit |
| Begins previews | 15 July 2010 |
| Opening | 20 July 2010 |
| Closing / Booking until | 11 September 2010 |
| Show times | Mon-Sat 20:00, Wed 15:00, Sat 16:00 |
| Production website | http://www.nimaxtheatres.com/nimax/play/S1277830573/The+Secret+of+Sherlock+Holmes |
| Prices from | £20.00 |
| To | £40.00 |
Cast & Creatives
- Author/Writer Jeremy Paul
- Designer Simon Higlett
- Lighting design Matthew Eagland
- Featuring Peter Egan, Robert Daws
Editor reviews
Average editor rating from: 7 user(s)
Curiously lacking in thrills
| Rating: | 2.0 |
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In direct addresses to the audience, and a final confrontation with Watson, Holmes gradually reveals himself as a man addicted to adventure, excitement and cocaine, but also subject to depression and delusion – someone with bipolar disorder, in effect. As an interpretation of the character, it's intriguing; as drama, however, it's flat. Paul's two-hander plays like a monologue at times, relying too heavily on narration, on telling and not showing. There is conflict – between Watson's empathy and sense of morality, and Holmes's selfish desire for sensation and cerebral challenge – but it makes for a psychological thriller curiously lacking in thrills. |
| Written by | Maddy Costa |
| Full review | http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2010/jul/23/secret-of-sherlock-holmes-review |
ot so much elementary, as elemental
| Rating: | 3.0 |
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Once the audience has conceded that this is a play about a relationship, not a detective story, they are gripped. For quite a lot happens at 221B Baker Street, as realised in Simon Higlett's marvellously cluttered design of spiral staircases, bookshelves, curtains and bric-a-brac, lit atmospherically by Matthew Eagland. The play was first produced in 1988 and was seen as an attempt to cash in on the television series then showing, with Jeremy Brett and Edward Hardwicke, who took the stage roles too. It was soundly trounced. This is not a humdinger by any means but it has an insistent, engaging quality of humour and truthfulness and a lot of poignancy too. |
| Written by | Michael Coveney |
| Full review | http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/reviews/the-secret-of-sherlock-holmes-duchess-theatre-london-2036142.html |
Didn't light me pipe
| Rating: | 2.0 |
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Some producer could surely make a fortune by staging a proper Sherlock Holmes mystery in the West End. A pretty large crowd turned out for The Secret Of Sherlock Holmes, many of the audience perhaps hoping it would be a classic three- pipe problem. Instead this show is simply a brief examination of the relationship between the gentleman detective and his doctor chum. Pity. |
| Written by | Quentin Letts |
| Full review | http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/reviews/article-1296932/The-Secret-Sherlock-Holmes-Just-elementary-dear-Watson-.html |
This low-budget show somehow cheapens Holmes himself
| Rating: | 2.0 |
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| Review | In investigating the tragic case of The Secret of Sherlock Holmes, one can only conclude that this is a show that didn’t bark on the first night. Instead it simply curled up and died. |
| Written by | Charles Spencer |
| Full review | http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/theatre-reviews/7902720/The-Secret-of-Sherlock-Holmes-Duchess-Theatre-review.html |
Benign Twaddle
| Rating: | 3.0 |
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What appeared less than elementary to me was quite who the target audience for this show might now be. The two halves, for a start, appear to be pulling in different directions. The first part is largely a whistle-stop tour of the pair’s lives and combined careers fighting crime, with key characters in the canon name-checked. It’s fine as far as it goes but aficionados are likely to feel, very quickly, that they’ve heard all this before. Those with a passing, but not obsessive, interest will be best served, especially if recovering from the travesty that was the recent Robert Downey Jr/ Jude Law film. |
| Written by | Fiona Mountford |
| Full review | http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/theatre/review-23858418-a-summer-stroll-for-our-detective-friend-in-the-secret-of-sherlock-holmes.do |
Flimsy
| Rating: | 2.0 |
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he problem is the text, which eschews the central appeal of all the original stories – solving a good mystery – for a narrated ramble through the whole history of the Holmes/Watson partnership. There are some amusing moments, such as Watson lamenting that Holmes can recognise 42 different kinds of bicycle-tyre track but knows nothing about literature. But it’s fatally hampered by its aimlessness. Imagine a reworking of Agatha Christie, stitched from all the adventures of Poirot and Captain Hastings, with the murders themselves removed. There is a mystery of sorts at the end, as Paul tacks his own coda onto the existing Holmes history to invent a new dimension to his epic battle with Professor Moriarty. It’s one of those twists that’s clearly meant to leave us reeling with its audacity. But it’s neither psychologically convincing nor dramatically sufficient to make up for the flimsiness of what has gone before. |
| Written by | Simon Edge |
| Full review | http://www.whatsonstage.com/reviews/theatre/london/E8831279702733/The+Secret+of+Sherlock+Holmes.html |
Not particularly challenging, but still fun
| Rating: | 3.0 |
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| Review | Surprisingly dark and oft-times humorous, The Secret of Sherlock Holmes made for a fun time at the theatre. Not a particularly challenging play, but engagingly intriguing and a majestic performance from Egan. It could be a little pacier and part of me thought it didn’t really need the interval, but not bad at all. |
| Written by | Ian Foster |
| Full review | http://oughttobeclowns.blogspot.com/2010/07/review-secret-of-sherlock-holmes.html |
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