A mad cap Sherlock Holmes compendium with a feminist twist which raises a few laughs but mainly misses its mark.Rating
Ok
I grew up on Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes books; I’m a huge fan and set off on a wild and windy night to the Arcola Theatre in Dalston excited to immerse myself in his engrossing mysteries and explore how re-gendering such key roles in British fiction would shine a light on society. Sadly, I was disappointed on both counts.
Ms. Holmes & Ms. Watson – Apt. 2B is set in contemporary London. An American doctor, who’s fallen on hard times and faints under stress, finds herself sharing an apartment with a bong smoking, eccentric sleuth. A bewildering number of mysteries present themselves and the pair form a friendship solving them, until they are confronted by super villains Moriarty and Irene Adler in a somewhat confusing showdown.
Many of the issues with this production lay with the play itself. It claims to be a modern retelling, but how many communist plots are foiled in London nowadays, and when do you see nuns in full habits walking the capital’s streets? The references to a five-year-old pandemic also made the play feel a little dated. The subplot about Homes trying to solve Watson’s phobia – which ends up in a moralising speech about the pandemic – feels like a side issue. There are plays to be written about the pandemic, but this did not feel like the right vehicle for it.
The team are clearing striving for some The Play That Goes Wrong quirky eccentricity with this production, and occasionally manage to raise some laughs, but for the most part it left me feeling a little uncomfortable. It’s a fine balance between playing up to the audience and irritating them. Simona Brown as Dr Joan Watson, who is the standout performer, strikes that balance but other cast members do not. The scripting doesn’t give Lucy Farrett as a technophobic, epee waving Holmes, an opportunity to show any depth, and her clipped Victorian delivery feels at odds with the show’s modern setting. Alice Lucy shows great versatility in her roles, from the frenetic Scottish housekeeper Mrs Hudson to the sultry Irene Adler.
A small stage can be challenging, and the production team manage some neat scenery changes – a cupboard that pulls out into a hotel bath and numerous uses for a bureau – but the layout of the stage leaves something to be desired. Most of the seating is to either side of the thrust stage so most of the audience miss out on clear sight lines. Projections onto blinds are somewhat obscured, and this multi-media addition feels like an afterthought, not adding much to the show. Some of the action happens on a second tier of stage, which left me with a crick in the neck by the time the show closed.
I came to the show excited to see a fresh version of solving mysteries and prepared to be amused by a contemporaneous gender shifting retelling, but it failed to provide enough laughs, the detective stories were too numerous and simplistic, and nothing profound was expressed by the changing of the roles from men to women. Having said that, there are some good performances and the first half is pretty entertaining so if you don’t set your sights too high, you may still have an enjoyable evening.
Written by Kate Hamill
Directed by Sean Turner
Set Design by Max Dorey
Ms. Holmes & Ms. Watson – Apt. 2B plays at the Arcola Theatre until Saturday 20 December
