Murderously Funny by Charles Marowitz Maria

Home , Jonny Lee Miller, Pursuit to Algiers, The Scarlet Claw, The Woman in Green

MURDEROUSLY FUNNY SHERLOCK’S

DIRECTED BY LAST CASEMARIA AITKEN

BY CURRICULUMCHARLES MAROWITZ GUIDE TABLE OF CONTENTS

Common Core Standards 3

Massachusetts Standards in Theatre 4

Artists 5

Themes for Writing and Discussion 7

Mastery Assessment 9

For Further Exploration 10

Suggested Activities 14

Recommendations for Further Reading and Viewing 16

September 2018

No portion of this curriculum guide may be reproduced without written permission from the Huntington Theatre Company’s Department of Education & Community Programs

Inquiries should be directed to: Alexandra Smith | Interim Co-Director of Education [email protected]

This curriculum guide was prepared for the Huntington Theatre Company by: Ivy Ryan | Teaching Artist Fellow Alexandra Smith | Interim Co-Director of Education COMMON CORE STANDARDS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS

STANDARDS: Student Matinee performances and pre-show workshops provide unique opportunities for experiential learning and support various combinations of the Common Core Standards for English Language Arts. They may also support standards in other subject areas such as Social Studies and History, depending on the individual play’s subject matter. Activities are also included in this Curriculum Guide and in our pre-show workshops that support several of the Massachusetts state standards in Theatre. Other arts areas may also be addressed depending on the individual play’s subject matter.

Reading Literature: Key Ideas and Details 1 Reading Literature: Craft and Structure 5 • Grade 7: Cite several pieces of textual evidence to support • Grade 7: Analyze how a drama’s or poem’s form or structure analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences (e.g., soliloquy, sonnet) contributes to its meaning. drawn from the text. • Grades 9-10: Analyze how an author’s choices concerning how • Grade 8: Cite the textual evidence that most strongly supports to structure a text, order events within it (e.g., parallel plots), and an analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences manipulate time (e.g., pacing, flashbacks), create such effects as drawn from the text. mystery, tension, or surprise. • Grades 9-10: Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to • Grades 11-12: Analyze how an author’s choices concerning how support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as to structure specific parts of a text (e.g., the choice of where to inferences drawn from the text. begin or end a story, the choice to provide a comedic or tragic resolution) contribute to its overall structure and meaning as well • Grades 11-12: Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as as its aesthetic impact. inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain. Reading Literature: Craft and Structure 6 • Grade 7: Analyze how an author develops and contrasts the Reading Literature: Key Ideas and Details 2 points of view of different characters or narrators in a text. • Grade 7: Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze • Grade 8: Analyze how differences in the points of view of the its development over the course of the text; provide an objective characters and the audience or reader (e.g., created through summary of the text. dramatic irony) create such effects as suspense or humor. • Grade 8: Determine a theme or central idea of a text and • Grades 9-10: Analyze a particular point of view or cultural analyze its development over the course of the text, including experience reflected in a work of literature from outside the its relationship to the characters, setting, and plot; provide and United States, drawing on a wide reading of world literature. objective summary of the text. • Grades 11-12: Analyze a case in which grasping point of view • Grades 9-10: Determine a theme or central idea of a text and required distinguishing what is directly stated in a text from what analyze in detail its development over the course of the text, is really meant (e.g., satire, sarcasm, irony, or understatement). including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text. Reading Literature: Integration of Knowledge and Ideas 7 • Grades 11-12: Determine two or more themes or central ideas of • Grade 7: Compare and contrast a written story, drama, or poem a text and analyze their development over the course of the text, to its audio, filmed, staged, or multimedia version, analyzing including how they interact and build on one another to produce the effects of techniques unique to each medium (e.g., lighting, a complex account; provide an objective summary of the text. sound, color, or camera focus and angles in a film). Analyze the extent to which a filmed or live production Reading Literature: Key Ideas and Details 3 • Grade 8: of a story or drama stays faithful to or departs from the text or • Grade 7: Analyze how particular elements of a story or drama script, evaluating the choices made by the director or actors. interact (e.g., how setting shapes the characters or plot). • Grades 9-12: Analyze multiple interpretations of a story, drama, or • Grade 8: Analyze how particular lines of dialogue or incidents in a poem (e.g. recorded or live production of a play or recorded novel story or drama propel the action, reveal aspects of a character, or or poetry), evaluating how each version interprets the source text provoke a decision. (Include at least one play by Shakespeare and one play by an • Grades 9-10: Analyze how complex characters (e.g. those with American dramatist). multiple or conflicting motivations) develop over the course of a text, interact with other characters, and advance the plot or develop the themes. • Grades 11-12: Analyze the impact of the author’s choices regarding how to develop related elements of a story or drama (e.g., where a story is set, how the action is ordered, how the characters are introduced and developed). SHERLOCK’S LAST CASE CURRICULUM GUIDE 3 MASSACHUSETTS STANDARDS IN THEATRE

ACTING • 1.7: Create and sustain a believable character throughout a scripted or improvised scene (By the end of Grade 8). AUDIENCE ETIQUETTE • 1.12: Describe and analyze, in written and oral form, characters’ wants, Attending live theatre is a unique experience with needs, objectives, and personality characteristics (By the end of many valuable educational and social benefits. To Grade 8). ensure that all audience members are able to enjoy the • 1.13: In rehearsal and performance situations, perform as a productive performance, please take a few minutes to discuss the and responsible member of an acting ensemble (i.e., demonstrate following audience etiquette topics with your students personal responsibility and commitment to a collaborative process) before you come to the Huntington Theatre Company. (By the end of Grade 8). • How is attending the theatre similar to and different • 1.14: Create complex and believable characters through the integration of physical, vocal, and emotional choices (Grades 9-12). from going to the movies? What behaviors are and are not appropriate when seeing a play? Why? • 1.15: Demonstrate an understanding of a dramatic work by developing a character analysis (Grades 9-12). • Remind students that because the performance • 1.17: Demonstrate increased ability to work effectively alone and is live, the audience’s behavior and reactions will collaboratively with a partner or in an ensemble (Grades 9-12). affect the actors’ performances. No two audiences are exactly the same, and therefore no two READING AND WRITING SCRIPTS performances are exactly the same—this is part of • 2.7: Read plays and stories from a variety of cultures and historical what makes theatre so special! Students’ behavior periods and identify the characters, setting, plot, theme, and conflict should reflect the level of performance they wish (By the end of Grade 8). to see. Improvise characters, dialogue, and actions that focus on the • 2.8: • Theatre should be an enjoyable experience for development and resolution of dramatic conflicts (By the end of the audience. It is absolutely all right to applaud Grade 8). when appropriate and laugh at the funny moments. • 2.11: Read plays from a variety of genres and styles; compare and Talking and calling out during the performance, contrast the structure of plays to the structures of other forms of however, are not allowed. Why might this be? literature (Grades 9-12). Be sure to mention that not only would the TECHNICAL THEATRE people seated around them be able to hear their • 4.6: Draw renderings, floor plans, and/or build models of sets for a conversation, but the actors on stage could hear dramatic work and explain choices in using visual elements (line, shape/ them, too. Theatres are constructed to carry form, texture, color, space) and visual principals (unity, variety, harmony, sound efficiently! balance, rhythm) (By the end of Grade 8). • Any noise or light can be a distraction, so please • 4.13: Conduct research to inform the design of sets, costumes, sound, remind students to make sure their cell phones and lighting for a dramatic production (Grades 9-12). are turned off (or better yet, left at home or at CONNECTIONS school!). Texting, photography, and video recording are prohibited. • Strand 6: Purposes and Meanings in the Arts — Students will describe the purposes for which works of dance, music, theatre, visual arts, and • Food, gum, and drinks should not be brought into architecture were and are created, and, when appropriate, interpret their the theatre. meanings (Grades PreK-12). • Students should sit with their group as seated by • Strand 10: Interdisciplinary Connections — Students will apply their the Front of House staff and should not leave their knowledge of the arts to the study of English language arts, foreign seats once the performance has begun. languages, health, history and social science, mathematics, and science and technology/engineering (Grades PreK-12).

FIND US ONLINE! 1. Who will play the titular role of Sherlock Holmes in the Huntington’s production of Sherlock’s Last Case? What are Did you know the Huntington Theatre Company’s website some other roles he has played? provides students and teachers opportunities to more deeply 2. Who is the Artistic Director of the Huntington Theatre explore the season’s offerings and learn about upcoming events Company? Who is the Managing Director? How long have in the Education department? they each been in their respective positions? Utilizing the website at huntingtontheatre.org find the answers 3. Your friend broke her foot and needs to use a wheelchair. to the following questions: What accessibility services does the Huntington provide for patrons like her?

4 SHERLOCK’S LAST CASE CURRICULUM GUIDE ARTISTS

In his work, Marowitz employed a vast array of techniques that were traditionally cinematic, such as jump cuts, dream sequences, harsh lighting, and other tricks to heighten the visual experience for his audiences. However, it was his fast-and-loose “free adaptations” of the classics that brought him greatest notoriety in the theatre. Always out for the attention-grabbing theatrical coup, he staged a black power Othello, a feminist tragedy The Taming of the Shrew, and a Freudian Hedda Gabler in which Hedda rode her father around the stage, thrashing him with a whip. Marowitz had no reservation about revising the works of Shakespeare, observing that in his opinion, the Bard was “capable of some horrifically bad writing.” Marowitz’s productions frequently featured explicit onstage sex scenes. He held significant disdain for Hamlet and his production of the play included a scene in which Hamlet raped Ophelia. “I despise Hamlet,” he explained. “Like the parlour liberal or paralyzed Playwright Charles Marowitz intellectual, he can describe every facet of a problem yet never pull his finger out ... You may think he’s a sensitive, well-spoken and erudite PLAYWRIGHT CHARLES MAROWITZ fellow but, frankly, he gives me a pain in the ass.” Marowitz’s only play to have a life beyond the Open Space Theatre was Sherlock’s Last Case, Charles Marowitz (1932 - 2014) was a provocative avant-garde theatre written to plug a scheduling gap at the Open Space in 1974. It was later artist who played many creative roles in his career as a theatre maker. produced on Broadway in 1987. Marowitz worked as a director, playwright, theatre company founder, teacher, author, artistic director, and critic in both the United States Some audiences were alienated by Marowitz’s cold manner and his and England. A self-identified scrooge of cultural anti-intellectuals incorrigible habit of reviewing his colleagues in print. “Maybe I don’t and unadventurous mainstream theatre, Marowitz made and vocally suffer fools gladly,” he said in an interview with The Los Angeles Times advocated for controversial theatre that was uncensored and outside in 2002 after he was removed as artistic director of the Malibu Stage the box. Company for having insulted several members. Nothing in his contract, he added, said “I had to be a sweet fellow.” When Marowitz arrived in England in 1956, he brought with him acting techniques from New York then largely unfamiliar to the theatre QUESTIONS: community in the UK. “Having proved myself a failure at drama schools both in New York and London,” he said, “it seemed the most natural 1. Consider Sherlock’s Last Case within Charles Marowitz’s body of thing to set up an acting school of my own.” He began with workshops work. How does it reflect his aesthetics and approach to theatrical in which actors amazed themselves by improvising new scenes from old storytelling? In what ways is it different from his other work? texts. He co-founded a magazine called Encore, the self-styled “voice of vital theatre,” which chronicled the rapidly shifting aesthetics and 2. Marowitz was well-known for flipping classics on their head and cultural values of contemporary theatre in the United Kingdom from adapting them to make them unapologetically his own. If you 1954 – 1965. could adapt any classic story which book, play, or movie would you choose and why? Describe what you would change and the During his years in London, Marowitz directed several West End reasoning behind your choices. premieres, among them Joe Orton’s Loot, Sam Shepard’s Tooth of Crime, John Herbert’s Fortune and Men’s Eyes, and Eugene Ionesco’s 3. Read one of Charles Marowitz’s adaptations of Shakespeare’s Makbett. His collaborations on Royal Shakespeare Company productions plays and Shakespeare’s original text. Compare and contrast these of King Lear, Peter Weiss’s Marat/Sade, and Jean Genet’s The Screens versions of the same story. How did the changes Marowitz made led, in 1964, to a “Theatre of Cruelty” season at the Royal Shakespeare affect the story? Which version did you prefer and why? Company. This was inspired by the ideas of the French theorist, Antonin Artaud, a great hero of Marowitz’s, who had proposed that theatre 4. Charles Marowitz was a champion for unconventionality. Why is it should assault the senses of the audience to stimulate their fundamental important for artists to push the limits of their creativity? How can fears and reveal, as Marowitz put it, “the existential horror behind all controversy be beneficial in art? social and psychological facades.” 5. “An actor is someone who remembers . . . someone who Charles Marowitz was co-director of the Royal Shakespeare remembers his lines, his cues . . . who remembers what it felt Experimental Group in the early 1960s and went on to co-found the like to be spurned, to be proud, to be angry . . . who remembers experimental Open Space Theatre in London with Thelma Holt, serving the primordial impulses that inhabited his body before he was as its artistic director for eleven years until its closure in 1980. The Open ‘civilised’ . . . what it feels like to be partnered, to be set adrift, Space staged complex, evocative material and, although it never had to be reclaimed . . . To be without memory and to be an actor is the resources to pay a resident acting company, there was a pool of inconceivable.” — The Act of Being by Charles Marowitz (1978) fine performers who repeatedly worked with the company. This enabled Explain Marowitz’s definition of acting in your own words. What do Marowitz to present original experimental adaptations for mature you believe is the role of an actor? audiences, which formed the theatre’s core repertory.

SHERLOCK’S LAST CASE CURRICULUM GUIDE 5 Shakespeare Company, the National Theatre, and in London’s West End, she appeared in leading roles in Hay Fever, Blithe Spirit, Bedroom Farce, Travesties, Waste, Private Lives, and The Vortex, among others. She has been described by Shakespeare Theatre Company’s artistic director Michael Kahn as “perhaps the foremost interpreter, as an actress, of Noël Coward in our time,” having played more of Coward’s leading women in the West End than anyone to date. Her film credits include A Fish Called Wanda for which she was nominated for a British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Award. Ms. Aitken is a visiting teacher at the British American Drama Academy, The Juilliard School, Yale School of Drama, New York University, The Actors Center in New York, and the Academy for Classical Acting. She is the author of two books, A Girdle Round the Earth, a story of some of the most remarkable female travelers in the last 200 years, and Style: Acting in High Comedy, which contends that “High comedies are not bloodless, refined, wordy plays — their themes are sex, money, and Director Maria Aitken social advancement. They contain a splendid contradiction: wit and elegance at the service of man’s basest drives.” DIRECTOR MARIA AITKEN QUESTIONS: As a director, Maria Aitken is best known for her Olivier and Tony 1. “I first became enchanted with the stage when my mother took Award-winning production of Alfred Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps, which me to see the ballet in Norwich aged five. I came back absolutely she directed at the Huntington Theatre Company in 2007 as its glowing and told my grandfather all about it. He said I should write American premiere before its three-year Broadway and Off Broadway to the lead ballerina. So I did and she sent me a signed photograph runs. Additionally, the production ran in London’s West End for nine of herself. Then when I was seven I wrote a play, with the very years. For the Huntington Theatre Company, Ms. Aitken has also precocious title Havoc Among the Lovers, and my family was press directed Bedroom Farce (2016), The Seagull (2014), The Cocktail ganged into performing it. I cunningly wrote myself a small part Hour (2013), Betrayal (2012), Private Lives (2012), and Educating Rita with all the best jokes. From then on I had the acting bug. It is an (2011). Some of her other international directing credits include The extraordinary escapism, and I think it’s probably saved me a fortune Importance of Being Earnest (The Old Globe, San Diego), Tartuffe, and in shrinks.” — Maria Aitken Heartbreak House (Delaware Resident Ensemble Players), the Tony What do you think Maria Aitken means by calling the performing Award-nominated Man and Boy (West End and Broadway), The Gift arts “extraordinary escapism?” How is her story of falling in love (Geffen Playhouse and Melbourne Theatre, Australia), As You Like It with the stage reflected in the work Aitken has gravitated towards (Shakespeare Theatre Company), Quartermaine’s Terms (Williamstown making in her career? Theatre Festival), The Cocktail Hour (Guthrie Theater), Sherlock’s Last Case (The Watermill Theatre, UK), Noël Coward’s Easy Virtue (Chichester 2. Maria Aitken worked with more than 50 directors over the course Festival Theatre), Lady Bracknell’s Confinement (Vineyard Theatre, NYC), of her acting career and said in an interview with the Huntington School for Scandal (Clwyd Theatr Cymru, UK), As You Like It (Regent’s in 2012 said that she tends to “pinch the good things from some of Park, UK), and many others. those [she] liked.” What are things have you have learned that you Despite an acclaimed career as an actor on the British stage, Aitken “pinched” from classmates, teachers, celebrities, co-workers, and quit acting in her early 60s, stating that “I didn’t want to prance mentors you admire? anymore. You can grow out of it.” But as an actor in London at the Royal

I am looking forward enormously to returning to the Huntington, my favorite regional theatre in America — no, amend that — in the world. It’s the people who work there, of course. They’re not only immensely skilled at what they “ do, which can’t be for the money, they are magnificently supportive of my choices. I know whatever vision my designers and I come up with, it will somehow be realized.”

— MARIA AITKEN, in an interview about the Huntington Theatre Company (2016)

6 SHERLOCK’S LAST CASE CURRICULUM GUIDE THEMES FOR WRITING AND DISCUSSION THE DANGERS OF RESENTMENT Sherlock’s Last Case is a prime example of the risk of resentment and what can happen when it goes unchecked. Conflicts and disagreements between co-workers who spend lots of time together will always arise and how individuals handle these situations can impact the quality of work, the mood of the working environment, and overall morale. In Charles Marowitz’s Sherlock’s Last Case, rather than directly addressing the issues they experience, silence and restraint allow resentments to fester, and over time, to warp, distort, and transform people into crueler versions of themselves. Dr. Watson is one such example of someone whose feelings of jealousy, frustration, and bitterness towards someone else (no spoilers!) have been boiling under the surface for years. Watson’s transformation is a central plot point in Sherlock’s Last Case. He presents himself as a man whose pride has been trampled on countless times and has finally reached the breaking point. He demands the recognition he believes he is due — his time in the spotlight — at Robert Downey Jr. as Sherlock Holmes any cost. and Jude Law as Doctor Watson Watson’s resentment seeps deep into his psyche and only fully reveals its repercussions at the end of Act I. Watson is lost to his emotions UNCOVERING THE TRUTH and all-encompassing hatred, so much so that an affirmation leads Sherlock’s Last Case would not be a proper Sherlock Holmes adventure him to snap and finally display the ugliness that has been bubbling without surprising reveals of hidden truths, unearthed through under the surface. Watson reveals, “A slight, infinitesimal shiver . . . ran observation, logic, and forensic science. In Charles Marowitz’s play, there through my nervous system . . . during every deft comment you ever are many instances of orchestrated deception and false clues that force uttered in correcting the muggy little obscurities and confusions of characters to dig through layers of information to separate fact from my own pathetic mind . . . A slight here, a sarcasm there, the ego first fiction. In a typical Sherlock Holmes story, the deducing detective is the rubbed the wrong way then bruised, then battered, then seething with one to uncover the truth and find the culprit in the end, but in this play, convulsions of rage and dark dreams of revenge.” Watson confesses the the reveals are sprinkled throughout, catching the audience by surprise ways in which this bile has degraded his mind and spirit. Later, he even at every turn. concedes that he knows his madness is easily diagnosable: “What is its root, and its cause? You are the root and cause of my madness.” The play opens as Sherlock Holmes explains to his assistant, Dr. Watson, how he used close observation and scientific knowledge to discover a Resentment emerges for many of the characters in Sherlock’s Last Case shocking truth about a woman named Madame Neander: in revolting and surprising ways. In this play, anger leads to dark and bloody paths of betrayal, violence, broken trust, deceit, and revenge. HOLMES: Earlier the same evening, as the guests assembled in the great hall . . . you remember how the women all arrived QUESTIONS: in a great bunch . . . well, did you notice anything odd as they 1. Reread Act I, Scene 4 in which Watson confronts his nemesis in the were standing before the looking-glass in that great hall? cellar. What led Watson to resent this person? How does the other WATSON: Only that they were preening themselves like person react to this outpouring of information? jackdaws, as they always do. 2. There is a world where Watson’s revenge plot could have been HOLMES: All but one. avoided. How could this series of unfortunate events have been WATSON: (Suddenly realizing.) Madame Neander! altered? What could the other person have done differently? What could Watson have changed? HOLMES: What woman who truly was a woman, would miss a chance of admiring herself in the glass. That, I fear was the 3. Knowing what you do about playwright Charles Marowitz’s artistic fatal giveaway. aesthetic, why might he have chosen to reimagine these familiar (I.1) characters in this new, different way? Next, Holmes begins an extended investigation to fend off threats 4. Have you ever let resentment get the best of you? Why are hurt from Simeon Moriarty, the vengeful offspring of his deceased nemesis, feelings that go unaddressed so dangerous? How did your Professor Moriarty. Holmes follows a trail of clues on his journey towards situation end? the truth: handwritten letters, a conversation with Simeon’s sister, Liza, a discovery of Watson tied up with chloroform on his lapel, and even the arrival of a mysterious package. Holmes is driven to separate facts from diversions, and when he has the opportunity to interview Liza, he analyzes the handwriting in Simeon’s letters and carefully

SHERLOCK’S LAST CASE CURRICULUM GUIDE 7 fact-check every detail of Liza’s story before he agrees to meet her at on his life, but Holmes sees Lestrade’s presence as an unnecessary the rendezvous location. He informs Watson, “The character of Simeon intrusion. Holmes treats Lestrade as a meddlesome burden for which Moriarty’s hand does suggest an unstable personality with marked he has no need or time. When he believes Lestrade has overstepped proclivity towards rash action. The P’s and T’s are precisely those of a his boundaries, Holmes attempts to cut his rival down by noting, “your man consumed with revenge” (I.4). However, what Holmes could not cloying sense of paternalism is really becoming quite obnoxious” (Act anticipate is that these clues were carefully fabricated by someone who I, Scene 3). The next time Lestrade joins the story, it is eighteen months would know all of Holmes’s methods of deduction. The culprit reveals, later midway through Act II, Scene 1, where he is executing part one of “Knowing full well you would use your expert powers to analyze that a plot to help Holmes. Lestrade reveals that Holmes has actually sought scrawl and since my scheme called for just such a character, I took it Lestrade’s help. “Holmes came to me with the most incredible story I upon myself to write the letter in longhand. It was bravado, I grant you, ever heard. One that I couldn’t for the life of me believe,” he recalls in Act but you see I banked on the fact that through all these years, you have II, Scene 2. As the partnership between Holmes and Watson becomes been so consumed with your own affairs and so oblivious of mine that tenuous, Holmes reevaluates who has partnership potential. Lestrade, a never, in a thousand years, would you have recognized my handwriting.” professional rival whose detective skills have proven him to be Holmes’s Although the truth is often murky and there are obstacles of deceit peer in the field, fits the bill perfectly. along the way, the truth in a detective story is always found out — sooner or later. QUESTIONS: 1. “I — I want you to know this. Those eighteen months without you QUESTIONS: were the longest in my life. I hated you! I loathed you! I wanted to 1. What tools does Sherlock Holmes use to uncover the truth in be free of you — I was certain of that, but the fact remains, during Sherlock’s Last Case? Which skill do you find the most effective and/ those eighteen months, I was quietly and unconsolably miserable. or impressive? Perhaps when one hates someone as intensely as I did you, it turns into some perverse kind of love; I don’t know.” — Watson, Act II, 2. How do you discover the truth in your life? Are you more often on Scene 3. the right trail of the wrong trail? How do you deal with deception? How do you spot clues? What does this quote reveal about Watson’s dependence on Holmes? How can love and hate coexist in a single relationship?

PARTNERSHIPS AND RIVALRIES 2. What are “frenemies?” How and why do these In Charles Marowitz’s Sherlock’s Last Case, iconic partnerships collapse relationships develop? and new alliances form, while traditional friends become foes and enemies become allies. Whether characters are on the same team or 3. What partnerships in your life are strong? How do you work members of opposing sides, the interpersonal dynamics are marked by together as a team? What are your strengths as a duo? complex, shifting allegiances in which the one constant is the competitive edge between parties, as each pushes to outdo the other. Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson are a globally revered team that works together closely to solve seemingly unsolvable mysteries. In Sherlock’s Last Case, however, there is conflict between the two that may change the nature of their relationship forever. The outside world (both the world of fictional Victorian London and the real world of readers and audience) believes these two have a happy and healthy working relationship and deeply respect each other’s contributions. But Watson has not experienced their relationship that way and confesses his perception that Holmes does not see him as capable or an equal. “I am a Doctor of Medicine,” he says. “I trained. I studied. I was honoured at University . . . I won awards. When I walked down a hospital corridor, then I was no flunkey, no lapdog but a respected member of the medical profession with a flair for literature and an enviable intellect. But later, after you had insinuated yourself on my personality and into the minds of everyone who knew me, I was those things no longer. I was poor bumbly Watson, you know, the good-natured stooge of that detective. Watson’s the other one, the dull chap who never gets it quite right” (Act I, Scene 4). Could these feelings of inadequacy and insecurity cause Watson to regard his partner, Holmes, as his pompous rival? Throughout this play a new partnership can be tracked between Inspector Lestrade, a police officer from Scotland Yard, and Sherlock Holmes, a private detective. In Victorian London, members of the police force, such as Lestrade, and investigators working in private practice, such as Holmes, were in competition to solve cases and win the public’s trust. The first time Lestrade appears on stage in Act I, Scene 3, Holmes asserts his authority by remarking, “Lestrade, you are making a bloody Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce as the iconic duo, nuisance of yourself.” Lestrade may be trying to Holmes from threats Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson

8 SHERLOCK’S LAST CASE CURRICULUM GUIDE MASTERY ASSESSMENT ACT I ACT II SCENE 1 SCENE 1 1. What is this scene’s setting? 1. What is the significance of the letter Watson reads aloud? 2. How did Holmes deduce that Madam Neander was a man 2. How does Mrs. Hudson feel about Holmes being gone? in disguise? 3. Why does Mrs. Hudson call the fellow from 3. What omen occurs in this scene? Bognor “wicked?” 4. Who must Mrs. Hudson visit immediately? What is Holmes’s 4. Why does Inspector Lestrade bring someone to the house opinion on the matter? on Baker Street? 5. Why is the letter from Moriarty important? What information 5. What kind of test does Watson put to “Mr. Holmes?” does it contain? 6. What determination does Watson ultimately make about SCENE 2 the visitor? 6. Who pays Holmes a visit and for what purpose? SCENE 2 7. How did Liza’s parents meet and fall in love? 7. Why does Watson return to the scene of the crime? 8. What is the course of action proposed to deal with Moriarty? 8. Who is the Voice In Darkness? Does Holmes accept it? 9. What is Lestrade’s part in this series of events? SCENE 3 10. Who was the quick-change artist? 9. What is Lestrade trying to convince Holmes is a good idea? 11. How did Holmes make it out of the death trap alive? Who wins the argument? 12. What is the solution that Holmes offers to Watson? 10. Why is Watson late to the meeting? 13. Describe the resolution of this scene. 11. What is the message on the surprise parcel? SCENE 3 12. Why is Watson nervous about Miss Moriarty? 14. Why did Holmes decline his knighthood? SCENE 4 15. Who is the man who broke into Holmes’s house and for 13. What precautions has Holmes taken for this encounter with what purpose? the Moriarty siblings? 16. What transpires when Damion tells Holmes he must 14. What is the real reason why Holmes has been lured to kill Watson? this location? 17. Who is Damion revealed to truly be? 15. What is Watson’s motivation for his actions in this scene? What crime does Watson accuse Holmes of committing? 16. Who is Bertha Walmsley? 17. How does Watson plan to cover his tracks? 18. What argument does Holmes make in an attempt to persuade Watson that he needs him? 19. What song plays at the end of the scene? Who played this song earlier in the play? How is it different this time?

NILE HAWVER Mark Zeisler as Doctor Watson and Rufus Collins as Sherlock Holmes

SHERLOCK’S LAST CASE CURRICULUM GUIDE 9 FOR FURTHER EXPLORATION venture all over the world before settling in Portsmouth, England to open his own practice. During the next years, the young man divided his time between trying to be a good doctor and struggling to become a recognized author. In 1887, Doyle’s first novel was published in a popular English magazine called Beeton’s Christmas Annual, under the title A Study in Scarlet which introduced readers to the immortal Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson. Despite this work’s success, Doyle personally preferred his next novel Micah Clark, which though well received, is a lesser-known work. This began a dichotomy in the author’s professional life: Doyle wrote about Sherlock Holmes, who quickly became world famous in commercially popular stories, while also crafting a number of historical novels, poems, and plays, for which Doyle expected to be recognized as a serious author but lacked the acclaim of his more popular detective novels. Doyle was also better known as a writer in the United States than in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle England. The managing editor of Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine in Philadelphia commissioned him to write a short novel, The Sign of Four, SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE which was published in England and the United States in February of “For strange effects and extraordinary combinations we must go 1890 and established Sherlock Holmes’s presence on the literary scene. to life itself, which is always far more daring than any effort of the Despite his success, Doyle was restless. Doyle briefly moved his family imagination.” — Arthur Conan Doyle to Vienna, where he failed in an attempt to specialize in ophthalmology, and then opened a practice in London that received little foot traffic. Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle was born on May 22, 1859, in Edinburgh, But in this down time, Doyle wrote a series of short stories about Scotland, to a modest Irish-Catholic family. Doyle’s mother, Mary, had Holmes and Watson with the help of his agent, his illustrator, and The a passion for books and was a master storyteller. Doyle wrote of his Strand Magazine. This collaboration lasted for many decades and was mother’s influence on him in his autobiography: “In my early childhood,” instrumental in making the author and the magazine world famous. he reflected, “as far as I can remember anything at all, the vivid stories she would tell me stand out so clearly that they obscure the real facts In 1891, Doyle fell dangerously ill for several days and when his health of my life.” improved, he concluded that his efforts to balance his medical and literary careers were foolish. He joyfully abandoned medicine and From age nine to 17, Doyle attended a Jesuit boarding school in devoted himself to his writing. A year later, Doyle grew tired of his England. He loathed the strictness surrounding his studies and rebelled most famous creation and impulsively killed Holmes off in 1893’s “The at the school’s brutal system of corporal punishment. It was during Final Problem.” He wanted to be free from a fictional character that those difficult years at boarding school that Doyle realized he shared overshadowed what he considered his finer work. Subsequently, Doyle his mother’s talent for storytelling. He was often found surrounded by a wrote a play about Sherlock Holmes. It was not to give Holmes new life, crowd of captivated younger students listening to the amazing stories but to make money. The very successful American actor William Gillette he would make up to amuse them. read the script and asked for permission to revise it. Doyle agreed, and when the actor asked permission to alter the Holmes persona, Doyle When considering what he would do next following graduation, Doyle replied: “You may marry him, murder him, or do anything you like to was inspired to study medicine by a lodger his mother had taken in who him.” By the time Gillette’s revisions were shared with Doyle, there was had trained at the University of Edinburgh. There, Doyle met his teacher little left of the original script. The play was a huge success. Dr. Joseph Bell, the man who would eventually serve as the basis for the persona of Sherlock Holmes. A couple of years into his studies, Arthur When the Boer War began, a war between the British Empire and the decided to try writing a short story. An early effort, “The Mystery of two African Boer states over control of South Africa, Doyle tried to enlist Sasassa Valley,” reflected the style of Edgar Allan Poe and Bret Harte. but he was older and not in top physical condition, so he volunteered as Both this story and his story “The American Plan” were published by a doctor. He had a traumatic experience in Africa where he witnessed prestigious literary magazines. These back-to-back successes showed the effects of typhoid, so when he returned to England he switched Doyle that a career as a writer might be possible. gears and he threw himself into politics for a brief time. Doyle ran for parliament, representing the Unionist Party, once in Edinburgh in Doyle was in his third year of medical studies when adventure called his 1900 and once in the Border Burghs in 1906. Although he received a name. He was offered the post of ship’s surgeon on The Hope, a whaling respectable amount of the vote both times, he was not elected. boat about to leave for the Arctic Circle. This adventure awoke Doyle’s wandering spirit, leading to a life full of travel. When Doyle finally The inspiration for Doyle’s next novel came from a prolonged stay in obtained his Bachelor of Medicine and Master of Surgery degree in 1881, the Devonshire moors. As he dove deeper into crafting this new tale, he he drew a sketch of himself receiving his diploma, with the caption, realized his story lacked a hero. Rather than inventing a new character, “Licensed to Kill.” Soon after, Dr. Arthur Conan Doyle held a series jobs he realized everything he needed for this hero was in Sherlock Holmes. in the medical field that, while personally unfulfilling, allowed him to Doyle did not want to resurrect the great detective initially, so he wrote

10 SHERLOCK’S LAST CASE CURRICULUM GUIDE the story as if it was a previously untold adventure. A year later, King 2. Throughout his life, Doyle failed often and openly before Edward VII knighted Doyle for services rendered to the Crown during the instinctively leaping to the next thing. How would you describe the Boer War, but rumors circulated that the king was such an avid Sherlock twists and turns of his life? Why is failure a powerful teacher and an Holmes fan that he had put the author’s name on his Honors List to important part of life? encourage him to write new stories. 3. Read an example of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s more “serious” work Doyle tried his hand at writing a number of plays, but his first three were and one of his Sherlock Holmes stories. Compare and contrast the total flops. Doyle’s fourth play, The Speckled Band, was a roaring success two in terms of both content and style. and featured none other than Sherlock Holmes. Although he wrote many books and short stories with different protagonists, he did give THE CULTURAL LINEAGE OF A BRITISH DETECTIVE in to readers’ demands and wrote more short story compilations about In 1886, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote his first Sherlock Holmes story, Sherlock Holmes for the next 24 years. In the autumn of 1929, in spite . In total, he wrote 60 Holmes adventures, including of having been diagnosed with Angina Pectoris, Doyle went on one last A Study in Scarlett 56 self-contained short stories and 4 novels. All but four stories are whirlwind trip to give lectures on spiritualism, a new found passion at the narrated by Holmes’s friend and biographer, Dr. John Watson, while two end of his life, in Scandinavia, Holland, Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, are narrated by Sherlock Holmes himself, and two others are written in and Norway. the third person. Sherlock Holmes’s popularity grew tremendously with Arthur Conan Doyle died on Monday, July 7, 1930, surrounded by his the beginning of the first series of short stories in The Strand Magazine in family. His last words before departing were addressed to his second 1891. Readers lined up at newsstands for The Strand on publication day wife. He whispered, “You are wonderful.” whenever a new Holmes story was to appear inside. QUESTIONS: In 1893, Doyle determined he would stop writing about his famous detective after a short story titled “The Final Problem.” Doyle felt the 1. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle spent the majority of his writing career Sherlock Holmes stories were distracting him from more serious literary torn between the commercially successful adventures of Sherlock efforts and that killing Holmes off was the only way of getting his career Holmes and the more serious literature he wanted to write. Why did back on track. “I must save my mind for better things,” he wrote to his Doyle believe Sherlock Holmes lacked substance? How does it feel mother, “even if it means I must bury my pocketbook with him.” Fans to be praised for something you do not enjoy while your passions of Doyle’s work were horrified and pressure from readers eventually go unrecognized? persuaded Doyle to bring Holmes back. In 1902, Doyle wrote The Hound

of the Baskervilles (a story set before the events of “The Final Problem”)

and revived Holmes in The Adventure of the Empty House, using holes in characters’ eyewitness accounts to make Holmes’s resurrection more plausible. The public’s desire for more stories about Sherlock Holmes led Doyle to write about the famous detective until 1928. Although Sir Arthur Conan Doyle passed away in 1930, Sherlock Holmes’s popularity has transcended time and geography. The character of Sherlock Holmes first appeared on film in 1900. From 1936-1946, the novels were developed as a series of films by Universal Pictures staring Basil Rathbone, establishing the trademark deerstalker, cape, pipe, and spyglass as a global visual icon. As of August 2018, Sherlock Holmes is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as ‘the most-portrayed movie character,’ with more than 70 actors having played the part in at least 200 films with more to be released this year. Regardless of the medium, Sherlock Holmes is typically portrayed with a very specific set of recognizable attributes: he is resourceful, quintessentially English, intelligent, learned, insightful, and relishes a challenge. In addition to novels and movies, Sherlock Holmes’s legacy lives on in many eccentric tributes from an international fandom. There are 357 Holmes Societies around the world and thousands of dedicated websites. The Sherlock Holmes Society in London is one of the many societies around the world that arranges visits to the scenes of Holmes adventures. Fans are often called “Holmesians” in the United Kingdom and “Sherlockians” in the United States. Devotees can visit a Sherlock Holmes Museum on Baker Street in London and another in Meiringen, Switzerland next to the famous Reichenbach waterfalls, where the great detective met his demise. There is also a pub in London called “The Sherlock Holmes” with a Baker Street sitting room reconstruction open to the public. The cover of the April 1927 edition Despite being a fictional character, Holmes has also been the recipient of of The Strand Magazine advertising a new Sherlock Holmes adventure inside awards generally reserved for actual human beings. London streets have been renamed after him and the Royal Society of Chemistry bestowing

SHERLOCK’S LAST CASE CURRICULUM GUIDE 11 an honorary fellowship on Holmes for his use of forensic science and THE MAN, THE MYTH, THE LEGEND: analytical chemistry in popular literature, making him the only fictional scientist thus honored. There is also a game called The Sherlockian Game THE REAL SHERLOCK HOLMES (also known as the Holmesian Game) that treats Holmes and Watson Sherlock Holmes, the famous fictional detective, was based on Dr. Joseph as real people and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle as Watson’s agent. Global Bell, a renowned forensic scientist at Edinburgh University who was one participants of this game attempt to resolve anomalies and clarify details of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s medical school professors. Dr. Bell was 39 about Holmes and Watson from the canon of Holmes mysteries by years old when Doyle first attended one of his lectures in 1877 and is said combining history with aspects of the stories to construct biographies to have walked with a lurching rhythm that painted him as someone with and other scholarly analysis. great energy. His nose and chin were angular and his eyes had a shrewd twinkle. In addition to his medical brilliance, Bell was an amateur poet, a QUESTIONS: sportsman and a bird-watcher. 1. When Doyle decided to kill off Sherlock Holmes, he did not Born in Scotland in December 1837, Joseph Bell studied at the University anticipate the intensity of the public outcry that followed. More of Edinburgh Medical School. He was a talented and highly regarded than 20,000 readers of The Strand Magazine cancelled their medical student who delivered a dissertation to the Royal Medical subscriptions, outraged by Holmes’ premature demise. The Society. Bell had an accomplished medical career and served as a magazine barely survived. Readers at the time typically accepted personal surgeon to Queen Victoria whenever she visited Scotland, what went on in their favorite books, then moved on. Now they published several medical textbooks, and became president of the Royal were beginning to take their popular culture personally and College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in 1887. expected their favorite works to conform to their expectations. The charismatic Doctor Bell dazzled his students with demonstrations What does the modern practice of fandom look like? How does the where he was able to determine a patient’s occupation and many other word “fanatical” relate to contemporary fans of works such as the personal details simply by studying their appearance and mannerisms. Harry Potter series or stories from the Marvel Universe? What is the In addition to taking Bell’s classes, Doyle was selected by Bell at the end difference between a “die-hard fan” and a “fair-weather fan”? of his second year to serve for a time as his clerk at the Royal Infirmary Are you a superfan of any stories, whether they be in print or on of Edinburgh where he got a further look at his mentor’s celebrated film or television? How do you celebrate or honor your favorite deductive abilities. In many ways, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was the Dr. characters? How do you react when writers defy your expectations? Watson to Dr. Joseph Bell’s Sherlock Holmes.

2. Why are readers and audiences still interested in Holmes and Dr. Bell intently absorbed minute details about each person with whom Watson today? What is it about these famous characters that has he interacted, from their walk, to their accent, to the style of their allowed them to only gain popularity over time? What do you like tattoos, to the condition of their hands. He famously concluded that one about Sherlock Holmes? man was an alcoholic by observing that he habitually carried a flask in the inside breast pocket of his coat. He is reported to have noted that 3. The phrase “Elementary, my dear Watson” is never uttered another man was a cobbler by seeing that the inside of the knee of the by Holmes in the 60 stories written by Doyle. It is difficult to man’s trousers was worn in a particular way. He could also apparently track the origin of this phrases’ evolution, but there are quite a tell with great reliability that someone had lied to him by observing their few breadcrumbs leading to its popularity. William Gillette, the behavior and mannerisms. playwright working with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle on Sherlock The following is an account of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s in his Holmes (1899), is widely considered to have originated the phrase autobiography, Memories and Adventures, of one particular example of with the formulation, “Oh, this is elementary, my dear fellow” The Bell’s observational abilities that occurred when Bell observed a patient phrase, “Elementary, my dear Watson, elementary” appears in that he had never spoken to or met before: P.G. Wodehouse’s 1915 novel Psmith, Journalist (not spoken by Holmes). The exact phrase “Elementary, my dear Watson” is used “Well, my man,” Bell said, after a quick glance at the patient, by protagonist Tom Beresford in Agatha Christie’s 1922 novel The “you’ve served in the army.” Secret Adversary. The phrase became familiar with the American “Aye, sir,” the patient replied. public in part due to its use in The Rathbone-Bruce series of films from 1939 to 1946. “Not long discharged?” “No, sir.” How is the evolution of this phrase reflective of the cultural “A Highland regiment?” phenomenon that surrounds Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories? “Aye, sir.” SHERLOCK’S GLOBAL LITERARY IMPACT • Sherlock Holmes, according to The New York Times, is the 3rd most read publication on the planet behind the Bible and the Dictionary. • Approximately 5 million Sherlock Holmes books are printed in Europe and the United States every year. • Sherlock Holmes is required reading in schools around the world including the United Kingdom, United States, Japan, and Russia. • Holmes stories have been translated into over 84 languages. • There are over 10,000 independent reference books, studies, and investigative publications dedicated to Sherlock Holmes.

12 SHERLOCK’S LAST CASE CURRICULUM GUIDE “A non-com officer?” “Aye, sir.” “Stationed at Barbados?” “Aye, sir.” Bell turned to his bewildered students. “You see, gentlemen,” he explained, “the man was a respectful man but did not remove his hat. They do not in the army, but he would have learned civilian’s ways had he been long discharged. He has an air of authority and he is obviously Scottish. As to Barbados, his complaint is elephantiasis, which is West Indian and not British, and the Scottish regiments are at present in that particular island.” Dr. Bell once stated “In teaching the treatment of disease and accident, all careful teachers have first to show the student how to recognize accurately the case. The recognition depends in great measure on the Doctor Joseph Bell accurate and rapid appreciation of small point in which the diseased differs from the healthy state. In fact, the student must be taught to observe. To interest him in the kind of work we teachers find it useful to QUESTIONS: show the student how much a trained use of observation can discover in 1. Make a Venn diagram to compare and contrast the fictional Sherlock ordinary matters such as the previous history, nationality and occupation Holmes with his real-life inspiration Dr. Joseph Bell. What do these of a patient.” Sherlock Holmes’s ability to draw the largest conclusions two figures have in common and in what do they differ? Consider from a combination of small observations and reason was directly profession, skills, appearance, and impact on those around them. inspired by Dr. Bell’s skill set. Additionally, also the fictional detective’s fashion sense seems to have also been drawn from Bell, who is reported 2. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle highly valued Doctor Joseph Bell’s to have often worn a long coat and a deerstalker hat. A few famous observation, logic, deduction, and diagnostic abilities — so much so photos of him in this attire exist. that he wrote 60 stories centered around these talents! What are Years later, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote the following letter of immense skills others possess that impress you? List six behaviors, who does gratitude to Dr. Joseph Bell: them, and why they are noteworthy in your eyes. My dear Mr. Bell, THE WORK OF A VICTORIAN DETECTIVE Many thanks for your most kind and genial letter which was a • What’s the history of the title? very great pleasure to me. It is most certainly to you that I owe The word detective entered the English language in the mid-1800s, Sherlock Holmes, and though in the stories I have the advantage but it is ultimately derived from the Latin detegere, meaning “to of being able to place him in all sorts of dramatic positions I do uncover.” The label “detective” was not in common usage until the not think that his analytical work is in the least an exaggeration mid-Victorian period, coming into popularity after the detective of some effects which I have seen you produce in the out patient branch of the Metropolitan Police was instituted in 1842 with eight ward. Round the centre of deduction and inference and professionals, including two “inspectors.” In 1878, the detective observation which I have heard you inculcate, I have tried to branch was reorganized and renamed the Criminal Investigation build up a man who pushed the thing as far as it would go — Department (CID). By 1888, there were eight hundred officers in further occasionally — and I am so glad that the result has the CID. satisfied you, who are the critic with the most right to be severe. • Who were Private Investigators? I think that a fine thing might be done about a bacteriological The men who worked as Private Investigators at the end of the criminal, but the only fear is lest you get beyond the average 19th century ran the gamut from honest retired policemen looking man, whose interest must be held from the first and who won’t to supplement their income to shady characters excited by the be interested unless he thoroughly understands. Still, even so, prospect of catching someone’s spouse in an act of I should think that something might be done on these lines. I sexual misconduct. should be glad, if you should find yourself with ten minutes to spare, if you would give me an idea of the case which you speak • What were their investigation tactics? of, and indeed I should be very grateful for any ‘spotting of To gain information, detectives made a habit of getting to know the trade’ tips, or anything else of a Sherlock Holmes nature. criminal element in London, through frequenting pubs and horse races, employing informers and even using the newspapers to find The book will come out about September, and I should much information and discover possible frauds. like to inscribe your name upon the fly-leaf, if the dedication will not be an intrusion. I am sure that no other name has as good a • The police or Private Investigators? right to the place. When Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was writing his Sherlock Holmes mysteries, private investigators not only far outnumbered the With kindest regards and remembrances I am Metropolitan police but also played a more significant role in society very cordially as crime fighters. In fact, the general impression is that they, and not Yours, the official representatives of law enforcement, were the principal A. Conan Doyle (May 4th, 1892) fortification at the time against law breaking and social, moral and political deviance.

SHERLOCK’S LAST CASE CURRICULUM GUIDE 13 SUGGESTED ACTIVITIES WRITING: IMMORTALIZE YOUR IDOL ACTING: EXPLORING THE SUBTEXT Imagine you are writing a new adventure series and your idol or The term “subtext” refers to communication that is implied but not mentor will inspire the character of the hero. Think of someone who directly stated. Throughout Act I of Sherlock’s Last Case, Doctor deeply impresses and inspires you. Envision the mentor or role model Watson’s lines are full of opportunity for an actor to play subtext, as in your life that you most aspire to emulate, a person who has changed the words Watson says aloud reflect the respect and friendship that your life for the better, the Dr. Joseph Bell to your Sir Arthur Conan Sherlock expects to hear from his long-time partner. In the early scenes Doyle, the person you will have to remember to thank some day when of the play, he is overly positive in his praising of Holmes and their you win a big award. Create a character sketch by answering the partnership. At first glance, it may appear as if everything is better following questions: than ever, but upon further examination there are some bubbling undercurrents of resentment and foreshadowing of what is to come. • What behaviors or attributes are the key components that make this individual so inspiring? Examine these two excerpts from Act I, Scene 3. What does Dr. Watson say explicitly? What is implied in the subtext? How can you use your • If they were a superhero, what strengths do they have that would voice and physicality to communicate the subtext when delivering their superpowers? these lines? • What is their trademark look, color, article of clothing? WATSON: About my own fears being, in this instance, more • If they had a catch phrase, what would it be? prudent than your own. I mean, that’s never happened before; that I should have reached some kind of conclusion which was • What kind of challenges would this character take on? correct, before yourself. Or, as it is in this case, by means of a • In what kinds of situations would they save the day? completely original deduction.

Use your character sketch as the basis for a short story in which the WATSON: But it’s really quite astounding, if it’s true. I mean, character based upon your idol takes on a challenge and emerges deductions are, always have been, your own special province, victorious. Feel free to doodle a little picture of them, too! your specialty, one might say. I can usually recognize them after the event, but never beforehand. That is quite out WRITING: COMPARE AND CONTRAST of character. HOLMES PORTRAYALS ENSEMBLE ACTING: SCORPION GAME Read one of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock stories (short story or an excerpt from a novel) and watch a movie or TV episode that uses the This group game is all about mystery, surprise, and secret identity. In this famous detective as its source material, such as the BBC’s “Sherlock,” game, one player, the Scorpion, gently scratches other players’ palms CBS’s “Elementary,” or Fox’s “House.” Compare and contrast these while handshaking to “kill” them, trying to eliminate as many players as interpretations of Sherlock Holmes. How are they similar? How are they possible before their identity is discovered. different? Which interpretation do you prefer and why? (see Resource 1. Begin the game by having everyone sit in the circle with their eyes list on page 16) fully closed.

2. The leader or instructor walks around the circle and silently taps one person on the head or the shoulder to designate them as the Scorpion. 3. Once the Scorpion has been selected, everyone opens their eyes and begins walking around the space shaking hands with the other players as they pass. Everyone will shake hands normally, except the player who is the Scorpion. When the Scorpion handshakes another person, they will subtly scratch the palm of the other person’s hand with their pointer finger as they are shaking hands. 4. Once a player has been scratched, they cannot reveal through sound or expression that they know who the Scorpion is. Instead they must shake two other people’s hands and then stage a dramatic death scene before falling to the ground. 5. For other players, the objective is to guess who the Scorpion is before they all end up dead. Players do this with a simple accusation: “Kate, are you the Murderer?” Since Kate’s not the Murderer in this game, she shakes her head no, and then the player who made the false accusation performs their own dramatic death scene to remove themselves from the game. Benedict Cumberbatch as Holmes in the BBC series

14 SHERLOCK’S LAST CASE CURRICULUM GUIDE 6. Players resume moving around the room, shaking hands until someone correctly identifies the Scorpion, or everyone has “died” except the Scorpion. 7. It is worth playing two - three rounds, depending on time constraints. The game only gets more fun, the more you practice. 8. Variation: Players take on the roles of characters in Victorian London as they play.

COSTUME DESIGN: SHERLOCK HOLMES MAKEOVER Sherlock Holmes has an internationally identifiable look. Traditional depictions of him include a long brown overcoat, a deerstalker cap (an ear flapped traveling cap), a collared shirt, a tie, dress pants, and dress shoes. For this activity, imagine that Sherlock Holmes and Watson have come to you asking for help with their wardrobes because they are getting bored with their daily predictable choices and want you to assist in adding a bit of modern flare. Design new costumes for these detectives. Consider:

• What are the components of the uniforms worn by police officers today? What about the clothes worn by specialty police units such as those who interact with young people? How do these differ from contemporary homicide detectives? • What essential tools do detectives carry with them? What technology and equipment do they rely on? Traditional paper doll costumes for • Are there modern equivalents of the hallmark items worn by Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson Holmes and Watson? How can you update these items?

Using this research and the traditional depiction of the characters as inspiration, create sketches for new, contemporary costumes for Holmes and Watson.

NILE HAWVER Mark Zeisler as Doctor Watson and Rufus Collins as Sherlock Holmes

SHERLOCK’S LAST CASE CURRICULUM GUIDE 15 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FURTHER READING AND VIEWING SHERLOCK HOLMES NOVELS FILMS ABOUT HOLMES BY SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939) A Study in Scarlet (1887) The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1939) The Sign of the Four (1890) Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror (1942) The Hound of the Baskervilles (1902) Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon (1942) The Valley of Fear (1915) Sherlock Holmes in Washington (1943) SHERLOCK HOLMES SHORT STORY COLLECTIONS Sherlock Holmes Faces Death (1943) BY SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE Crazy House (1943) The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1892) The Spiderwoman (1943) The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (1894) The Pearl of Death (1944) The Return of Sherlock Holmes (1905) The Scarlet Claw (1944) His Last Bow (1917) The House of Fear (1945) The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes (1927) The Woman in Green (1945) The Complete Sherlock Holmes Short Stories (1928) Pursuit to Algiers (1945) Dressed to Kill (1946) PLAYS FEATURING HOLMES OR WATSON Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, William Gilette (1899) The Great Mouse Detective (1986) — animated Disney film The Game’s Afoot by Ken Ludwig (2012) Sherlock Holmes (2009) — with Robert Downey Jr. (Sherlock) and Jude Law (Watson) The (Curious Case of the) Watson Intelligence by Madeline George (2013) Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011) — sequel to the above Miss Holmes by Christopher M. Walsh (2017) Mr. Holmes (2015) — with Ian McKellen (Sherlock) TV SERIES BASED ON HOLMES “Sherlock” (2010 – present) on BBC with Benedict Cumberbatch (Holmes) and Martin Freeman (Watson) “Elementary” (2012 – present) on CBS with Jonny Lee Miller (Holmes) and Lucy Liu (Watson) “House” (2004 – 2012) on Fox with Hugh Laurie (Dr. Gregory House) and Robert Sean Leonard (James Wilson)

Basil Rathbone Robert Downey Jr. Benedict Cumberbatch Jonny Lee Miller

16 SHERLOCK’S LAST CASE CURRICULUM GUIDE NOTES

SHERLOCK’S LAST CASE CURRICULUM GUIDE 17 264 HUNTINGTONBOSTON, MA AVENUE 02115-4606

OCT. 25

2018-2019 STUDENT MATINEES THE NICETIES OCT. 3 SHERLOCK’S LAST CASE MAN IN THE RING NOV. 30 A DOLL’S HOUSE, PART 2 JAN. 24 18 SHERLOCK’S LAST CASE CURRICULUM GUIDE ROMEO AND JULIET MAR. 8 & 14