July 2010 Theatre Review by Joe Stead
Sherlock Holmes The Final Adventure
How to solve the mystery of the elusive evening of entertainment and suspense? Elementary, my dear readers. Take as your subject one of the greatest characters to ever step from the pages of literature, the dazzling detective Sherlock Holmes. Give him a finely honed and crackling production by one of Chicago's promising up and coming young companies and a superb cast to wring every ounce of wit and intrigue out of his tale. And place your riveting little jewel box entertainment up close and personal in an Off Loop storefront to dazzle the mind. That is precisely what Idle Muse Theatre Company has done with "Sherlock Holmes The Final Adventure".
Fans
of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's noted sleuth can stop right here and
simply order their tickets to what promises to be one of this
summer's best Off Loop bargains. Those whose literary palettes
are slightly less nourished may wish to follow along for the
adventure. All of the characters and plot of Doyle and William
Gillette's original are present in playwright Steven Dietz's faithful
adaptation. And they are deftly evoked by Director Evan
Jackson's gleaming, minimalist austerity.
Idle Muse may not have the space or the budget to give us a realistic depiction of Holmes' Victorian era Baker Street London, but Set Designer Dennis Mae's solution is both economical and creative. The tiny room of the Side Project Theatre is fitted out with a copper pipe framework and several Plexiglas placards. Look closely and you will detect etchings of bookshelves, architectural detail, a Victrola, a violin and the scales of justice, all subtly evoking the period and milieu of our great detective's world.
We begin our tale with Sherlock's confidante Doctor Watson solemnly mourning the death of his best friend and one of the wisest men the world has ever known. What finally did in old Holmes? Was it the nefarious criminal mastermind and Holmes' dreaded arch-enemy Professor Moriarty? Were the cocaine injections this analytical genius favored the final edge of the Grim Reaper's dagger? Or did the old boy, a model of the chaste and solitary lifestyle, finally meet his match at the hands of love? With Watson serving as our narrator, we flash back to one dark and stormy evening as he is summoned in secret meeting to Holmes' Baker Street home.
Holmes reveals that he has spent the past two years unsuccessfully implicating Professor Moriarty in a series of crimes. The lines are drawn and Holmes has one final chance to catch this "Napoleon of crime" in his own sinewy web. A masked intruder, revealed to be the King of Bohemia, has sought the help of our hero to overturn a blackmail scheme involving incriminating evidence of a former love affair that will prove devastating to his current matrimonial plans. The lady involved is one Irene Adler, the foremost operatic soprano in Europe, now newly married to a certain lawyer named Godfrey Norton. Miss Adler's beautiful face and enchanting voice have won her many admirers, among them no less than the avowedly unromantic Holmes. Although he claims to love her voice and nothing more, Holmes is quick to place his and his trusted ally Watson's lives in jeopardy for the pleasure of the game. Why? "Because it's delightful," Holmes boasts.
Sherlock
is convinced that Miss Adler is a pawn in the dastardly Moriarty's
plot to ultimately destroy him. He cunningly gains entrance to
her new husband's residence disguised as a clergyman. Irene
easily sees through the charade because, after all "One actor
can never fool another". Is Holmes correct in his
supposition that Irene is a prisoner of marriage trapped in an
ingenious and dangerous scam? "Your heart has at last
overturned your head," Watson declares of the seeming
infatuation. Holmes holds to his mantra that "the truth is
always out in the open". Can our heroes stay one step
ahead of a genius criminal syndicate or is the fate of the legendary
Sherlock Holmes pre-destined?
Whether or not you know the answer to that literary dilemma should have little influence on your enjoyment of the sparkling Idle Muse effort. The nine member ensemble has captured the essence of Doyle's prized novels without being a mere copy. Luke Hamilton's dashingly aristocratic and nicely underplayed Holmes honors such famous predecessors as Basil Rathbone without resorting to parody or imitation. His character is at once a self-satisfied genius and a little boy at play in matters of life and death.
Nathan Pease's Watson is a delightful sidekick, and Nathan Thompson's Moriarty, complete with topper, shaded spectacles and walking stick, a stylish and serpentine villain. Perhaps the nicest surprise is Elizabeth Macdougald's cunning and crafty portrayal of Irene Adler. No mere damsel in distress here, this is a strong and smart woman who never allows her heart to conquer her head. Splendid work all around. If you love a classic mystery, performed in a faithful and intimate manner, "Sherlock Holmes" is a foregone conclusion.
Idle Muse Theatre Company presents "Sherlock Holmes The Final Adventure" through August 22, 2010 at the Side Project Theatre, 1439 West Jarvis Avenue in Rogers Park. The play runs 2 hours 15 minutes with intermission. Performances are Thursday through Saturday at 8:00 p.m. and Sunday at 3:00 p.m. Call 773-382-2472 or visit www.idlemuse.org. For more information on this show, please visit the Theatre In Chicago Sherlock Holmes page.
About Joe Stead
Joe
Stead has enjoyed a lifelong passion for the theatre, which has
involved acting, directing, producing, designing and reviewing for
the past twenty-five years. He served as founder, producer and
Artistic Director of Curtain Up Productions in Baltimore, Maryland
and Four Star Players in Tampa, Florida. Favorite productions
have included "Life With Father," "Deathtrap,"
"The Odd Couple," "The Miracle Worker,"
"Brighton Beach Memoirs," "You're A Good Man, Charlie
Brown" and "Godspell". He has also performed
leading roles in "Fiddler on the Roof," "Pippin,"
"The Phantom of the Opera," "The Front Page," and
most recently as Hucklebee in "The Fantasticks" for
Waukegan Community Players. Joe holds a degree in Commercial
Art from Tampa Technical Institute. As a critic, he has
reviewed everything from Broadway to community theatre and major
regional theatres throughout the United States including the Kennedy
Center in Washington, D.C., Paper Mill Playhouse in New Jersey,
Goodspeed Opera House in Connecticut, and the Asolo Theatre in
Sarasota, Florida.
Since 1998, he has been a proud resident of Chicago, the greatest theatre city in America. He served for two years as Theatre Editor for College News and Central Newspapers. He created the website Steadstyle Chicago in 2000 to showcase the city's outstanding and diverse theatre scene. Joe was proud to serve alongside a distinguished panel of theatre professionals as a judge for two seasons of Speaking Ring Theatre's "Vitality" Festival of original short plays. His most fulfilling role, in addition to reviewer and all-around theatre fanatic, was as director of the 2007 production of Peter Shaffer's "Equus" at Actors Workshop (now Redtwist) Theatre, which was nominated for five Joseph Jefferson Award Citations and won for Best Actor (Peter Oyloe).