The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes Review

The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes

Chapterhouse Theatre Company

Bridport Arts Centre

Chapterhouse Theatre Company's quick witted production certainly did not disappoint, giving us thrilling fast pace adventure and mystery at every twist and turn of this gripping tale of Sherlock Holmes. As well as being their third production exploring Sherlock's adventures this is also Chapterhouse Theatre's sixteenth year of touring wonderful outdoor theatre in idyllic settings all over the country. Bridport Arts Centre is a wonderful community venue, however it was a great shame that the weather forecast meant performing here instead of at the Millennium Green. Chapterhouse are a theatre company that specialize in outdoor theatre. Therefore having to adapt to performing inside at short notice must have been a challenge. A lot of the opening dialogue was delivered outwardly and exaggerated, something the production would have needed had it been outdoors to reach every audience member. However this needed to be toned down for the arts centre. This was not their only set back, unfortunately a cast member could not perform which meant actress Amy Spencer stepped in to play the role of Elissa. Although she had her script present throughout most of the play, she did a superb job under the circumstances.

Set in a convent in the countryside of East Anglia, this murder mystery had us all scratching our heads trying to figure out who the culprit was and wondering if nuns and monks could really have that many secrets. Sherlock Holmes is an extremely well known character and it is very hard to follow such memorable performances from the likes of Robert Downey Jr or Benedict Cumberbatch. He is known for his wit and fast dialogue, however I think some of that may have been taken to much to the extreme in this production. A lot of their comic timing was off because of this and jokes that should have had us in stitches only received a few chuckles here and there.

Stand out performances were from Graham Hill and Luke de Belder playing Dr Watson and Brother Benjamin, their comic timing during a scene involving a tooth being removed was brilliantly executed.

Having seen this company before performing outdoor theatre at its finest, I would definitely recommend watching their next production A Midsummer Night's Dream at Athelhampton House on the 28^th of August.

Acting Student Notes: As an actor you need to be able to adapt quickly in certain circumstances, these actors were able to change their performance to cope with the arts centre space and even take on a role at the last minute without hindering the other actors performances. I recently performed in an outdoor production of A Midsummer Night's Dream at University and we had to come up with another plan of action for the last night in case it rained and the amphitheatre wasn't suitable. Preparation and being adaptable is key, you never know what is going to happen on the night and as they say... the show must go on!!

The Magnificent Three Review

The Magnificent Three

Miracle Theatre Company

Maumbury Rings

Dorchester Arts Centre

Maumbury Rings, by far one of my favourite theatre venues in Dorset. Why spend your evening cooped up in doors watching the same predictable, repetitive TV programs on your (yes... probably extremely comfortable but socially restricting) sofa? When you could be enjoying a picnic and Pimms in the sunshine with family and friends, before watching some exciting live entertainment in this local idyllic setting. Last year Dorchester Arts Centre were one of many small, but wonderful, organisations to lose their funding. They are still standing a year later showing just how much they are valued in this community.

Miracle Theatre Company, are based in Cornwall and have been making innovative engaging theatre for 16 years touring almost 60 shows. With the help of Bill Scott's brilliant writing and directing; local companies and generous supporters, Miracle Theatre has become the renowned and fast expanding company that it is today. This production was certainly the "toe tappin', side splittin'" experience we had all been promised. Hannah Stephens and Ben Kernow gave particularly memorable and hilarious performances as Esmerelda Fabiola la Falsa, the mysterious Mexican medicine woman with the surprising back story and Jed Carter, the dim-witted Deputy Sheriff whose underestimated talents amused us all.  Ben Dyson gave his fair share of witty side comments too, making us roll about laughing in our already unsteady picnic chairs (depending on what you'd been drinking).The first 10/15 minutes were quite slow and possibly unnecessary. I think the audience would have understood the back story (a father passes away leaving his son and daughter the land, however the son abandons it) as the dialogue after the son returns was quite self explanatory. Their comic timing was almost perfect throughout with the exception of a couple of jokes falling flat because they missed the beat. I particularly enjoyed their slapstick, stylized, slow motion fight scenes. Miracle's comical and imaginative use of props made the production even more entertaining and captivating. Who would have known a step ladder could make such a believable stubborn horse. When you think of the Wild West, gun fights and cowboys spring to mind and like most theatre, western stories are mostly based on the men of the era. However it was wonderful to see that the main characters in this western comedy were strong heroines. Two of the Magnificent Three were in fact female. I had a really enjoyable evening watching this exciting comedy and it was great to see a piece of theatre being enjoyed by all age groups and showing just how much theatre can bring a community together.

My acting student notes:

This production has helped me see the importance of being able to improvise and use the audience and surroundings. Mid fight a wayward flaming bottle landed just off of the stage. The blunder could have easily set fire to the stage with the actors still on it. However a member of the audience got up and quickly tipped her drink over it extinguishing the flames. Mid fight actor Catherine Lake used this and congratulated the woman whilst still in slow motion making the audience roar with laughter. I have just completed my second year of training and our final production was an outdoor performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream. I learnt just how important it is to project when outdoors and battling with the elements. Most of the cast of The Magnificent Three were projecting well apart from the first five minutes when I struggled to hear a few of the lines.