LANCASTER, Pa. - For any actor portraying Sherlock Holmes, the biggest challenge is fighting the character s ingrained stereotype: the enigmatic, unbreachable disciple of deduction. Most of those perceptions are based on a series of film adaptations of [Sir Arthur Conan Doyle s] works made in the 1930s and 40s starring Basil Rathbone, said Kim Bennett, who portrays the celebrated sleuth in the upcoming Fulton Theatre production of Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure.
Jeremy Brett also did some Holmes work on episodes of Masterpiece Theatre in the 1990s, but when most people think of Sherlock Holmes, they tend to have a very particular notion of him ...
one that can be traced directly back to the Rathbone movies. Bennett, who last appeared on the Fulton stage in 2006 in the role of Van Helsing in Dracula: Lord of the Undead, sees Holmes as more of a real person than a caricature. The Holmes of Doyle s novels was just like anybody else full of contradictions and vulnerable to things like addiction and, perchance, love.
Winner of the 2007 Edgar Allen Poe Award for the best mystery play, Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure plays up Holmes humanity. Newly reunited with Dr. Watson, Holmes finds himself in the employ of the King of Bohemia, who wants him to track down the monarch s one true love, Europe s most celebrated soprano, Irene Adler.
Adler might be at the center of a scheme hatched by Holmes nemesis, the dashing and sinister Professor Moriarty. She also might be at the center of Holmes affections. There s a love story here, and it s also a great detective story, but people shouldn t get the impression that this is serious.
Playwright Steven Dietz has written a great show, but at its heart, this ...
is about giving the audience a great time. It s a Saturday afternoon with a bowl of popcorn, and it has all of the marks of a classic Holmes story: twists, turns and outrageous characters, which is exactly the reason why these 19th-century stories have lasted ..
. into the 21st century. The subject of four novels and 56 short stories, Sherlock Holmes was the creation of Scottish author and physician Doyle, who said repeatedly in interviews that he based the Holmes character on University of Edinburgh lecturer Joseph Bell, a surgeon who is considered a forefather of modern forensic pathology.
Holmes had his manic moments, definitely. He struggled with depression, like many do, and as smart as he is, you could still very rightly describe Holmes as a fastidious slob, Bennett said. The best way to describe Holmes, though, is that he s a personable loner, which is the Holmes I m trying to bring out in this production.
For me as an actor, being able to play Sherlock is as good as it gets. Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure opens Thursday at Fulton Opera House, 12 N. Prince St.
, in downtown Lancaster. For tickets and showtimes call 397-7425 or visit www.thefulton.
org .
News RSS