A Deeper Look WHICH IS the REAL SHERLOCK HOLMES?
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A Deeper Look WHICH IS THE REAL SHERLOCK HOLMES? by Jeffrey Hatcher & Design Photography Creative photo: Peterson Jeffrey Hatcher—Playwright Jeffrey Hatcher is one of Min- Regionally, his plays have been performed at Yale nesota’s premier playwrights. Rep, Old Globe, South Coast Rep, Seattle Rep, His Broadway/Off Broadway Intiman, Florida Stage, The Empty Space, CTC, credits include Three Viewings Madison Rep, Illusion, Denver Center, OSF, ASF, and A Picasso at Manhattan Milwaukee Rep, Repertory Theater of St. Louis, Theatre Club, Scotland Road Cincinnati Playhouse, Cleveland Playhouse, ATL, and The Turn of the Screw at Philadelphia Theater Company, Coconut Grove, Primary Stages, Tuesdays with Asolo, City Theater, Studio Arena and dozens Morrie (with Mitch Albom) at The Minetta Lane, more in the U.S. and abroad. He is a member Murder by Poe and The Turn of the Screw at and/or alumnus of The Playwrights’ Center, the The Acting Company, Neddy at American Place, Dramatists Guild, the Writers Guild, and New and Fellow Travelers at Manhattan Punchline. Dramatists. Some articles re-printed with permission from, and gratitude to: Holmes and Watson—A Closer Look 1 by Jeffrey Hatcher Presented by the Commonweal Theatre Company April 5 - July 6, 2019 The Characters WATSON—A former military field doctor and PATIENT 2—The second Holmes is disheveled, rest- friend of Sherlock Holmes. He used his experience less and exhibits the skeptical nature of Sherlock in the field to help Holmes solve crimes. As the Holmes. He wears a straitjacket. person closest to Holmes, Watson is engaged to PATIENT 3—The third Holmes also looks similar discover which of the three convincing Sherlock to the Holmes Watson remembers, but his head Holmeses is the real one. is shaved. He does not speak, nor can he appear DR. EVANS—The man who has taken it upon to hear. His gaze is always forward, as he is in a himself to solve the case of The Three Sherlock catatonic state. Holmes. Dr. Evans is the one who requests the aid ORDERLY—One of Dr. Evans’s assistants. He of Watson. wears an asylum employee uniform. PATIENT 1—The first of the three Holmes to arrive MATRON—Dr. Evans’s other assistant. She wears at the asylum and to be interviewed, Patient 1 her own version of the employee uniform, with her presents the demeanor we expect of Holmes; he hair in a bun. is brusque and rather forward with Watson. He wears a jacket, vest and slacks. Doyle and Holmes by Richard J. Roberts Scottish In 1887, Doyle first penned his most famous physician and creation, Sherlock Holmes of Baker Street. writer Sir By 1891, Holmes stories had become a fix- Arthur Conan ture of The Strand Magazine. Doyle was born Other fictional detectives had appeared in 1859 in Edin- before Holmes, including characters created burgh, Scotland, by Edgar Allen Poe (“The Murders in the and educated at Rue Morgue”) and Emile Gaboriau (“L’Af- a Jesuit prepa- faire Lerouge”). But Holmes captured the ratory school public imagination like few other literary in Lancashire, figures have ever done. Doyle himself, how- England. He ever, quickly became tired of his creation studied medicine and killed him off in “The Final Problem” at Edinburgh in 1893. After eight years of pressure from University, his readers, Doyle wrote The Hound of the where he was Baskervilles, set before Holmes’s death. This inspired by the masterpiece only whetted the public’s appe- brilliant deductive skills of his mentor, Jo- tite, and two years later Doyle resumed the seph Bell. While in school, Doyle worked as series with “The Adventure of the Empty a ship’s doctor and later ran his own practice House,” explaining that Holmes had faked in Portsmouth, England. his own death at Reichenbach. Ultimately, During these years of study and practice, Doyle wrote a total of four novels and 56 Doyle wrote and submitted several short short stories featuring Sherlock Holmes. stories to the literary magazines of the day. From 1899 to 1902, Doyle served as a physician in the Boer War. Upon his From Indiana Repertory Theatre Study Guide, Richard J. Roberts, ed. 2 Holmes and Watson—A Closer Look Sherlock Modernized In the theatre world, playwrights like Jef- music, though frey Hatcher and Ken Ludwig keep the spirit his outlet of Sherlock Holmes alive. In the cinema, Jef- is through frey Hatcher also adapted a screenplay from the piano, Mitch Cullin’s novel Mr. Holmes starring Ian guitar and McKellen, which told the story of a retired harmonica. Sherlock and his struggle with early House even dementia. has that one Today we see many works across me- close friend in diums, from board games to theatre, all which he can inspired by the Sherlock Holmes collection. confide—Dr. Martin Freeman and Benedict Cumberbatch Some of these works have appeared as James Wil- as Watson and Holmes in the BBC series. parodies to the original, such as the British son, House’s comedy Without a Clue (1988), the Canadi- Dr. Watson. Other references to Sherlock an series The Adventures of Shirley Holmes Holmes are present throughout the show, (1996-2000), and the more current series some more obvious while others may slip Psych (2006-2014). past viewers. The show Elementary is a more Other takes straightforward adaptation of the detective include adapta- series, but with Watson depicted as a female tions that are not named Joan Watson. so much about Sherlock Holmes has had a huge revival crime, but still in television and film, reaching out to both mysterious, such old and new fans, thanks to the moderniza- as House (2004- tion of the insightful detective. Guy Ritchie’s 2012). Here, Dr. Sherlock Holmes film series, starring Robert House uses his in- Downey Jr. and Jude Law, is set to release its credible deduction third movie, which has begun shooting and skills to solve mys- has a tentative release date [in 2021]. The terious medical BBC also recently completed its own televi- cases while, like Hugh Laurie as Dr. House, a Holme- sion series starring Benedict Cumberbatch Sherlock Holmes, sian character in a hospital setting. and Martin Freeman as the detective duo. secretly battling an addiction to prescription drugs. House also finds solace in playing From Milwaukee Repertory Theatre PlayGuide, Jenny Toutant, ed. Doyle and Holmes by Richard J. Roberts (cont’d.) return, he wrote The Great Boer War (1900) Doyle died in 1930 from heart disease and The War in South Africa: Its Causes and at his home is Sussex. The first of many Conduct (1902), for which he was knighted. Sherlock Holmes societies was founded in Although Holmes might be considered the 1934, and such organizations still active- literary icon of empiricism, Doyle was pro- ly debate the finer points of the detective’s foundly interested in spiritualism. This irony work. Whole books have treated Holmes and cultivated many of Doyle’s mystic beliefs, Watson as actual historical figures, filling in such as fairies, psychic powers, and com- gaps and calculating dates from clues in the munication with the dead. He wrote several stories. Nearly 100 actors have portrayed books on the subject, including The Coming Holmes in more than 300 films and tele- of the Fairies (1921), The History of Spiritu- vision programs. Dozens of authors since alism (1926), and The Edge of the Unknown Doyle have written their own Holmes stories, (1930), where he argued that his friend Har- novels, films, and plays. ry Houdini had supernatural powers. Holmes and Watson—A Closer Look 3 The Originals & Adaptations of Sherlock Holmes William Gillette was the first to portray stories. Sherlock Holmes on stage, playing the char- Michael acter about 1,300 times. His first perfor- Caine and Ben mance was made in 1899. Kingsley played The Return of Sherlock Holmes was the Holmes and first Sherlock film with sound (1929). Watson in the Basil Rathbone played Sherlock in the comedic 1988 1939 film The Hound of the Baskervilles, filmWithout a which is regarded as one of the best film Clue. adaptations. In 1992, Ronald Howard starred as Sherlock Christopher Holmes in the 1954 American television Lee played an series. It aired a total of 39 episodes. elderly Sher- Lost for decades, the 1922 silent film por- lock in the TV trayal of Sherlock Holmes resurfaced in the filmSherlock American actor William Gillette as 1970s. John Barrymore played Holmes and Holmes: Inci- Sherlock Holmes (c. 1890s). Roland Young played Watson. dent at Victoria Falls. Roger Moore played Sherlock Holmes in Robert Downey Jr. took on the role of the 1977 film Sherlock Holmes in New York. Sherlock in the 2009 [and 2011] film[s], that Peter O’Toole voiced Sherlock Holmes in helped reboot interest in the character. the 1983 animated series of several Holmes From Milwaukee Repertory Theatre PlayGuide, Jenny Toutant, ed. The Original Sherlock Mr. Holmes (2015): British film starring Ian Holmes Stories by Arthur McKellen as an elderly Holmes thinking back on Conan Doyle his past; written by Jeffrey Hatcher, playwright of Holmes and Watson. A Study in Scarlet (novel) The Sign of the Four (novel) Other Mystery Books The Adventures of Sherlock “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” by Edgar Holmes (short stories) Allan Poe, the short story that introduced litera- The Memoirs of Sherlock ture’s first great detective, C. Auguste Dupin. Holmes (short stories) The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin. A young- The Hound of the Baskervilles adult novel about a group of contestants compet- (novel) ing to solve a mystery and win a large fortune. The Return of Sherlock Holmes Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Chris- (short stories) tie.