Going to watch a Sherlock Holmes play, you pretty much know what you’re going to get, in the same way you would if it’s an Agatha Christie yarn. And, of course, a lot of people enjoy the aspect of “the familiar”.
Blake Kubena as Inspector White-Mason, Joseph Derrington as Dr Watson and Bobby Bradley as Sherlock Holmes | Photo © Adrian Warner
However, unless you are a die-hard Conan Doyle aficionado, it might be worth thinking twice about Sherlock Holmes: The Valley of Fear, playing this week at Theatre Royal Bath.
The problem is not at all with the acting. The cast of five power through playing a total of twenty parts with gusto (yes, even Holmes and Watson double up to other parts).
Bobby Bradley’s Holmes is engagingly enthusiastic about his quest, occasionally showing brittle vulnerability beneath his self-satisfaction, and Joseph Derrington gives us a very likeable and loyal Watson, forever in Sherlock’s shadow, while Blake Kubena is particularly versatile at multi-roling, with great confidence and stage presence.
But the multi-roling is part of the problem here. Whilst it can work to great effect in spoof productions such as The 39 Steps or Brief Encounter, it doesn’t really work in serious plays if the same actor is playing more than one sizeable role.
The plot of Valley of Fear – which continually hops between 221b Baker Street, a manor house murder scene, and back in time to a mysterious lodge in Pennsylvania – is complex enough, with the British and American stories appearing completely disconnected until the end; but to have the all same actors play significant parts in both tales without any seeming link between the roles they play, adds to the confusion, and it is difficult to think why this was done other than for budgetary reasons.
That may also explain the single set, a strange construction of period wallpaper and half-completed wood panelling, which looks lost on the large stage here and does not really convince as any of the locations involved.
Basic furniture is moved around to suggest a train carriage and other locations, but without more thought-through lighting effects, this rarely convinces.
The script, whilst highly literate, is very wordy and plot-focussed, giving little capacity to explore characters we can be invested in, and likewise it is hard to care about the murder of someone we haven’t met or know much about, especially stretched over it’s 2½ hours. Even the eventual much-vaunted reveal of Moriarty is underwhelming in a strangely inconsequential scene.
The Valley of Fear may appeal to avid followers of Holmes’ stories, but others may find it a production which, given its cast size, paucity of theatrical touches and set limitations, would be far more suitable for a smaller venue.
Sherlock Holmes: The Valley of Fear is showing at Bath Theatre Royal until 20th April. Box office: 01225 448844.
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Reviewer: Steve Huggins
