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 28th
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!!
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