(4 / 5)

Having been lucky enough to see Blackeyed Theatre’s award-nominated production of Oh What a Lovely War at the same theatre in 2024, I knew I was in for a treat with this world-premiere adaptation- in which we see four classic Sherlock Holmes mysteries intertwined to make one thrilling new adventure.

Blackeyed Theatre is one of the UK’s leading touring theatre companies, with over twelve years’ experience of bringing exciting, high-quality work across the UK.

“After working with Blackeyed on two previous adaptations of Conan Doyle novels (The Sign of Four and The Valley of Fear) it was really exciting to be asked back to create something a little different for our third Holmes collaboration. It’s been fun capturing the pace, the spirit and the character of Doyle’s original adventures, and our hope is that, like the stories themselves, The Hunt for Moriarty will keep audiences gripped – and guessing – along with the great detective himself, right to the last” Nick Lane, Writer and Director.

The stage is set but is perhaps not what we would expect from 221b Baker Street- the apartment is burnt out, and we can’t see much aside from a few doors, some chairs, and a table. Enter our narrator for the evening, Dr John Watson, perfectly portrayed by Ben Owora who leads us into our tale and the events leading up to the fire. The plot is intricate but fast paced and the set is versatile- transforming cleanly from 221b Baker Street to an underground station, a theatre basement, a gentlemen’s club and so on. Sound and lighting offer additional atmosphere and projections on the back wall provide the audience with a visual aid reflecting the action on stage (i.e. a letter that’s being read, a note that’s been found etc.) as well as assisting with scene transitions- an underground map, billowing flames, a waterfall.

Mention must be made to the movement within the piece- from the slick scene changes to the fight choreography and the clever physical theatre of the Diogenes Club- the togetherness of the gentlemen seated, trying to read their newspapers in peace makes for an amusing watch! There are lots of standout moments like this which make this production sparkle.

The cast are superb and deal with the large amount of dialogue wonderfully- the production is lengthy at 2 hours 45 with a 20-minute interval (unsure of the 7.45pm start!) and in honesty, felt like it should have ended at ‘case-closed’! However, the title somewhat gives away the fact that we’re going to be heading to the Reichenbach Falls at some point during proceedings, so the numb bum had to be endured for at least another 20 minutes!

The character transformations are executed beautifully, with thoughtful costume and accent changes that make it easy to tell who’s who — and ultimately, whodunnit! Pippa Caddick plays all female roles from Mrs Hudson to Irene Adler and switches between them with confidence and clarity. Eliot Giuralarocca and Robbie Capaldi also handle four or five characters each with ease. However, special mention must go to Gavin Molloy, whose portrayals of five characters are so distinct that it’s easy to forget Lestrade and Moriarty are, in fact, the same actor!

To me, Holmes isn’t quite manic or quirky enough- Knightley portraying him as a more composed detective than fans are used to. There’s an air of madness bubbling, but it never quite comes to fruition.

That said, even with its long running time, the show dazzles with originality, cleverness, and style- any Sherlock Holmes fan would be mad to miss it. Elementary, indeed!

Sherlock Holmes: The Hunt for Moriarty continues its run on March 10^th at The Dukes, Lancaster and finishes on May 23^rd at the Northcott Theatre, Exeter.

Sherlock Holmes and the Hunt for Moriarty – Blackeyed Theatre

Cast:

Ben Owora- Doctor John Watson

Mark Knightley- Sherlock Homes

Pippa Caddick- Mrs Hudson, Violet Westbury, Irene Adler, Hilda Trelawney-Hope

Gavin Molloy- Inspector Lestrade, Louis LaRotiere, Professor Moriarty, Alex Trelawney-Hope, Herbert Fennell

Robbie Capaldi- Sir James deWilde, Hugo Oberstein, Ronald Smith, Don Chappell

Eliot Giuralarocca- Mycroft Holmes, Col. Valentine Walter, Wilhelm von Ormstein, Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, Will Parfitt

Creative Team:

Playwright / Director- Nick Lane
Composer and Sound Designer- Tristan Parkes
Fight Director and Choreographer- Rob Myles
Set Designer- Victoria Spearing
Costume Designer- Madeleine Edis
Lighting Designer- Oliver Welsh
Projection Designer- Mark Hooper
Education Advisor- Ben Mitchell
Company Stage Manager- Jay Hirst
Assistant Stage Manager- Duncan Bruce

Set Construction- Russell Pearn

Producer- Adrian McDougall

(5 / 5)

Grand Ambition’s new play, ‘HOP- The Hopeful Hare,’ by Michelle McTernan, Steve Balsamo and John Quirk, was such a lovely story exploring love and grief through puppetry, song, and (lots of) vegetables!

Immediately when you enter the theatre, the setting and atmosphere conveyed the tone of the piece. They had birdsong through the speakers, a tree, plenty of plants, a plant bed with potatoes, carrots, peas, and cabbages, a wheelbarrow, and to the left in front of a shed was a deckchair, radio and coffee table. This was contained by a small section of blue fence to the left of the stage, with one wonky post. Even the front row of seats was covered in a hessian fabric to add to the outdoor, nature feel.

Images by Kirsten McTernan

The back of the stage showed a projection with blue skies and clouds, which was effectively utilised during the production for accessibility in captions as well as moments of animation. (I would like to mention also, that the performance I went to see was a BSL interpreted performance, which is great to see is happening more and more, not just on professional tours but also local and amateur ones.)

The story follows Grandpa, who every morning marks the day on his calendar before sitting in his deckchair and listening to Gardeners’ Question Time on the radio. Sometimes Grandpa was very receptive to the host and guest speaker, remarking on whether they were in Swansea or grumbling about them being in Cardiff or Aberystwyth. Other days, he would just turn it off.

During the first day, Grandpa strokes a well-loved toy rabbit and a happy birthday card, which immediately grabs the audience’s attention, making not only the young ones intrigued into a painful part of the character’s life, but the adults as well.

There are also animated scenes on the projection that explain Grandpa’s grumpiness, which is, of course, grief, in a much more powerful way than words could’ve done. When his wife died, he grieved her so much that he shut out his son in the process. The son walked away from their relationship to have his own partner and child.

Birds and slugs try to enter his garden every day, and every day Grandpa shoos them away. The slugs grumble as they leave. This was one of the many comedic elements, which combine well with the deeper tone of the piece.

At night, the hare (called Hop) enters, munching on the vegetables in the plant bed. Every night they go down, and Grandpa tries to stay awake to catch who, or what, is eating his crop.

Grandpa develops a relationship with Hop during the production revealing difficulties for his past but offering positivity for the future.

The set, animation, puppetry and original song came together to create a wonderful, heart-warming story that can connect with all ages, and was effective in teaching kids about grief and loss but also reminding all of the importance of working together with nature and animals.

I recommend this piece and wish there was more of this around, because now more than ever, kids need live theatre to connect to human stories in a physical way, away from screens.

Images by Kirsten McTernan

Hi Gwenllian, great to meet you, can you give our readers some background on yourself and your career

Hello! Great to meet you too. I’m an actor based in Llanharan but originally from Llanwinio in West Wales and I’ve been working as an actor for about 16 years. I trained at Rose Bruford College and then stayed in South East London for many years after graduating. As an actor I’ve had some wonderful experiences and opportunities and in recent years I’ve also been fortunate enough to work as an acting tutor which I’ve thoroughly enjoyed.  

Rose Bruford College

Viv Goodman, lecturer on the AS and A Level Drama & Theatre Studies course across Coleg Gwent. Recently employed you to work with her students. Were there any teachers or youth group leaders who supported your route into the arts?

I have to say that I was very lucky growing up in a community that generally valued culture and the arts.  I had a wonderful drama teacher at Ysgol Y Preseli, Eirian Wyn Jones, who inspired many of us to pursue a career in the industry.   She was incredibly supportive and encouraging.  I was also a member of Aelwyd Crymych and under brilliant leadership from people like Kevin Davies and Eleri Mai Thomas I had countless invaluable experiences with the choir, drama club and ‘Gwersyll Gwaith’. 

Viv Goodman, lecturer on the AS and A Level Drama & Theatre Studies course across Coleg Gwent.

You recently supported the delivery of a unit called Women in Drama, at Coleg Gwent. What did this entail?

I joined Viv for a class at the start, middle and end of the unit so it was really interesting to follow along with the students on their journey through the process of creating devised pieces. It was great to talk all things women with them and having just had a baby I felt extra passionate about chatting about the highs and the lows of my experiences as a woman working in theatre.  The students were taking inspiration from The Paper Birds Theatre Company and so were keen to collect real stories to add as verbatim so a couple of the students in particular were interested to find out how my career was going as a new mother. I also supported and looked at the physical storytelling in one of the devised pieces and then there was a piece that was using some Welsh language too so I assisted with the shaping of that piece. 

The Paper Birds, theatre company

Viv often supports practising creatives to deliver activity with her students; do you feel this has value?

It has enormous value.  They get an insight into the reality of what being an actor, writer or director really entails which might not always be what they expect! Viv invites a variety of artists too so they get a different perspective from each and meeting practising creatives allows them to see that following a similar career path might be possible for them too if that’s what their goal is.  Viv creates a supportive and collaborative room which is brilliant…by inviting us in she places emphasis on creating industry connections which is really useful and motivating for the students and a thought provoking and inspirational experience for myself. 

The cultural sector is dominated by middle-class white men. Has the work to improve diversity for women had an effect? What more needs to happen?

 I know a lot has changed over the years but I think so much more needs to happen.  Arts funding has been cut time and again over the past 20 years so it feels like a very difficult time for the whole sector and a lot of the issues women face does come down to lack of funding but I think that we really do need to create more opportunities and open up space for more women. We should also focus on supporting and mentoring women during all stages of their career.  Women are probably more likely to have care responsibilities and without support it becomes really challenging to work within the system.   Also, in general far more girls take up drama in schools and yet this isn’t reflected in the cultural sector …it’s not as if the talent isn’t there so we have to keep pushing for more opportunities.  

Is the decline in A-level Drama take up, affecting who goes into performing arts training?

Absolutely. Especially for working class kids.  With cuts to publicly funded arts youth organisations and far less opportunities for young people to access drama activities, drama in schools might be the first opportunity for young people to engage with the performing arts and knowing how instrumental my drama teacher was in supporting my preparations for auditions for drama schools I’m certain that it will have a big impact. An A level Drama course is not just valuable for people who want to pursue a career in the arts- it builds confidence, develops communication and creativity.  Skills that are essential for pretty much any career.

And finally what culture have you been consuming recently that you would recommend  to our readers?

I have a 15 month old at home who hates sleep so consuming culture is tricky at the moment!  The highlight over the Christmas holidays however was going to see the Sherman Christmas play in the studio – ‘The Frog Prince’ written by Gwawr Loader and Directed by Elin Phillips. It was my son’s first experience of the theatre! Beautiful performances from Anni Dafydd and Owen Alun enthralled us from start to finish!

The Frog Prince

I’m also really looking forward to seeing Haylee McGee’s  ‘Age is a Feeling’ in a few weeks at the new Soho Theatre in Walthamstow and hoping it will be the first of many theatre trips this year!

Age is a Feeling