It is said that people who do something wrong eventually get what is coming to them. In University Productions' enactment of "Sherlock Holmes," this idea was put to the test. Through careful reasoning, Holmes captured his man, solved a crime, and returned important property to its rightful owner.
The theme of the play is blackmail. Holmes has been hired to find some letters which could destroy the entire empire, should they be found by the wrong party. These letters have been placed in the safekeeping of Miss Alice Faulkner, who in turn has been taken prisoner by the evil Larrabees. Professor Moriarty, and then Dr. Watson, become wrapped up in the plot, and the show ends in a rather surprising manner.
Of course the only detective who could solve such a crime would be Holmes. David Ivers created a Holmes that satisfied the imagination. Serious, cunning and always a step ahead, Ivers showed the audience a side of Holmes rarely seen. Holmes was quick as always, picking up every clue no matter how small, but he was also sensitive and sincere when declaring his love for Miss Alice Faulkner. Faulkner, played by Alison Edythe Fisher, was not quite the usual damsel in distress. Indeed, she is frightened as she is relentlessly pursued by the evil Larrabees, but at the same time she holds onto her convictions. The letters should not be handed over to her pursuers, and Miss Faulkner would rather die than have this happen.
Madge Larrabee, one half of an evil twosome, was chillingly sinister. Greta Enszer, who played the role, created a convincingly evil enemy for Holmes. Trying her best to outwit the great detective, Enszer tried every trick in the book. Whether it was pretending to be someone else so as not to show her guilt, or whether it was in order to assist Moriarty capture Holmes, Enszer was a great adversary. James Larrabee, played by Matthew B. Witten, was the other half of this crime team. Witten never quite seemed to achieve the height of evil that Madge did, though. While he was extremely concerned about Holmes, he always seemed nervous and cautious, as opposed to corrupt and relentless.
Jeffrey M. Bender was none other than Holmes' arch-enemy, Prof. Moriarty. Bender created a great deal of consternation when sweeping on stage as Moriarty. Perfectly evil, Bender made the audience believe that he did indeed run every corrupt operation in town, and that you would be quite sorry if you did him the least disservice.
The slightly crooked character of Sid Prince was played by Jason Lindner. Lindner's role brought a bit of comic relief to the show as well as providing the performance with an outlandish and showy evil character. Lindner's role contrasted a great deal with the direct evil of Moriarty, and added some variation to the show.
As well as having many talented actors and actresses, the sets and costumes, as designed by Russell Metheny and Jessica Hahn, were outstanding. An incredibly rich atmosphere was created, drapes, fur rugs, and elegant furniture and clothing all helped make the world of Sherlock Holmes seem more real.
Although the set design, costuming and players were all remarkable, this almost wasn't enough to make up for the areas in which the plot lacked. The two-and-a-half-hour play never seemed to get entirely off the ground. In addition, for a detective story there was not all that much suspense. On top of this, there were areas in which the plot was difficult to follow, due to dialogue spoken too quickly, and with accents which were too heavy.
Even though the visual aspect of the show was stunning, the cast did well with what they were given - a rather scant plot. This caused the production to come off as flat and not as exciting and suspenseful as one might expect Sherlock Holmes to be. A balance needed to be achieved between the magnificent visual side of the show and the story line. Sherlock has been around for a long time and has never grown tiresome or shown his age. It seems this admired detective has fallen a little short of his expected outcome, and perhaps it is the first time that Sherlock Holmes has not come out on top of things.
Sherlock Holmes is a peeping Tom.