Next question: is the theatre play, Holmes and Watson by Jeffrey Hatcher (the man who wrote Mr Holmes) a massive fix-it as well as f*ck you to SHERLOCK’s The Final Problem?
Like, I only read the first ten pages or so of it… and it’s so much smarter than Moftiss “idea” of a game. The writing is not so great (when one has just reread Pinter’s Betrayal) but the concept?
Has someone watched it live? The play, not the episode, obviously.
@sanguinarysanguinity @sanspatronymic @a-candle-for-sherlock @brilliantorinsane @scfrankles @sarahthecoat
Oh, and tagging @fellshish because we had a short mention of Dürrenmatt yesterday, and this play has some serious vibes of the great Swiss playwriter as well.
The story is basically that Sherlock Holmes died 3 years ago at the Reichenbach, however, as no body was found, countless frauds have claimed to be ‘the real Sherlock Holmes’ ever since. Always, the ever-loyal John Watson was consulted to solve the case. All were fake; he’s at a bad place etc.
Until he recieves a mysterious telegramme urging him to an island. On that island an asylum is located. And in that asylum three men are prisoned — all three claim to be… Sherlock Holmes.
The Game is on.
(Apparently, it ends in a true Dürrenmatt style: John Watson cannot decide who the real detective is. It’s been to long. It will be forever a paradoxon. The man who never lived, and therefore will never die.)
(As I say, the premise is really something else. Even, of course, the question of identity as well as what’s he been up to during the hiatus is not knew. The writing however, so far as I have read it, nah. Don’t expect Ken Ludwig or Cunny/Nicholson. Maybe Hatcher is simply better at writing screenplays?!)
hmm, i have never heard of this before. Sounds kinda creepy.
@sarahthecoat: nah, not really. It’s just… dunno. The premise is solid, the end result not so much IMO.
Compared to theatre plays like Miss Holmes or Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery, or The Secret of Sherlock Holmes, or or or… it’s just not that well written? Which is kinda odd because he is the screenwriter of Mr Holmes (the one with Ian McKellen)? But I wasn’t a fan of that particular adaptation either, so… Also, IMO, the original set design is not really a homage to HAMMER and more the BBC SHERLOCK, but that’s my two cent.
For me, you have to *hear* the voices in a play, even when you’re only reading the script. I never saw it live, so all I have is the script. And IMO, you cannot hear John Watson. He’s just… neither a Victorian/ACD-ish character nor a modern take. Further, I agree with a review that stated that the major issue with the play is that it lacks the depth of character exploration.
The thing is that what people keeps interesting for more than 100 years is not the cases, or, you know, being clever/er than Sherlock Holmes. It’s the characters. And if Sherlock Holmes is engima - and it’s the question who he really is… than at least the rest of the characters IMO should be spot-on. Because in this case of identity, you IMO need a character you can identify (and yourself with). John Watson was/is since the beginning the stand-in for the audience - and this John Watson?
Maybe there should be a twist. But yeah… meh (IMO IMO IMO).
HMM, i wonder if, on stage and with the right actors and director bringing it to life, whether it would work better. I know i have a very hard time reading a script and getting any real “life” out of it on my own.
I actually LOVED the “mr holmes” film with Ian McKellen. I had got the book out of the library months ahead of time, and liked the movie better than the book for once. What is the date of this play, is it from way before that screenplay? Maybe the writer is better now than he used to be? Just speculating.
No, @sarahthecoat, the play is fairly recent (2017). That’s why - when I read the premise, and prior reading it - thought that I was inspired by The Final Problem, aka Moftiss “writing”. The author has written another play too, Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Suicide Club, 2011.
The thing is that asylum, shatter island, case of identity, Reichenbach + Hiatus, etc etc etc are all great ingredients. There’s a reason why it has a long tradition in theatre.
However, as I say, potentially personal taste. I couldn’t stand “his” Sherlock Holmes in Mr Holmes either. The idea was fascinating, but the characterization, yikes. Which is saying a lot as Ian McKellen is a terrific actor. I could and cannot hear “his” John Watson; and that’s kind of my “thing”. Yet, if you like it, all the better! Maybe you’ll enjoy this.
HMM, well, perhaps i will check it out at some point.