Reviewed by James Karas
Sherlock Holmes and the Mystery of the Human Heart is a play by Reginald Candy based on characters created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. That is what the program tells us. Its production by the Shaw Festival marks its world premiere. Candy is an Australian writer who has written a few plays including another one about Sherlock Holmes.
If you are an aficionado of Sherlock Holmes stories or of murder mysteries,
you may ignore this review and get tickets for the play at the Shaw Festival.
Sherlock Holmes and the Mystery of the Human Heart opens with Dr. Watson (Ric Reid) telling us of the death of his friend and colleague Sherlock Holmes (Damien Atkins). Then the lights go on to reveal Holmes’s roomy and well-appointed apartment in late nineteenth century London. There is a crowd of noisy people with appointments minutes apart to see the great detective. He shows up and gives short shrift to his visitors by solving all their cases and is called to a murder scene.
At the scene, a blanket cover is lifted and we see an object that looks
like an orange. But it is a human heart carved out of the corpse of a victim. A
hubbub ensues, Inspector Lestrade (Sanjay Talwar) is there with his know-it-all
daughter and amateur detective Amilia Lestrade (Rais Clarke-Mendes).
Thirteen people were murdered, and five orange-size hearts are recovered from places across London. Who are the victims and who are the perpetrators. No one knows.
The hearts are taken to Mrs. Allstrüd, (Nehassaiu deGannes) a pathologist
where Holmes, Watson, the Inspector and
his daughter examine the hearts carefully for a very long time and comment on
their observations at a level that I could not place anywhere except that of bovine feces.
Holmes ends up in Switzerland and the murders in London are solved but he and the world’s other genius, his mortal enemy Moriarty fall into a waterfall and are both dead. Moriarty’s body is recovered but not Holmes’s. but there is no doubt that both of them are dead. (Don’t ask how Moriarty shows up and who plays him.)
This dreary summary may make the play seem better than it is. Some details are missing or wrong because I could not always understand what Holmes’s landlady Mrs. Hudson (Claire Jullien) and Pycroft’s servant Miss Vespertine Hunter (Sophia Walker) were saying, and they seemed like important characters.
We are dealing with geniuses, one for good and one for evil. Holmes, if I am not mistaken, could tell where a person lives by looking at his boots.
The production has some production values especially the sets from Holmes’s apartment to outdoor scenes, to the pathology lab to a scene in Switzerland. The set was changed by moving large panels to the side with impressive speed and beautiful results. Sound lighting and production values are not enough to alleviate a dreary production. I found the whole thing trite and boring. It lasted three hours with two intermissions.
I level no criticism against director Craig Hall or the actors who did their best with the script that they were given.
I could not fathom why the play was chosen for production in a season that has almost no Canadian content. There are many Canadian plays that deserve production or revival. Why is the Shaw Festival treating Canadian writers with such contempt?
In fairness I should add that the Festival Theatre was almost full and on the date that I attended the performance received a standing ovation.
POSTSCRIPT
After I had finished the above review, it came to my attention that playwright
Reginal Candy may not exist at all. If that is true, then the Shaw Festival has
practiced a bad joke on us all. It is not only not funny but is a contemptible lie
and a fraud. How many people conspired to foist this despicable deception on
all of us? Shame on you all.
________________
Sherlock Holmes and the Mystery of the Human Heart by Reginald Candy continues
in repertory until October 13, 2024, at the Festival Theatre, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario. www.shawfest.com
James Karas is the Senior Editor, Culture of The Greek Preaa
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