"Sherlock Holmes" (article 10 september 1901)
This article was published in The Globe on 10 september 1901.
About the play Sherlock Holmes at the Lyceum Theatre, London, UK.
Article
"SHERLOCK HOLMES."
After a week's preliminary trial in Liverpool, "Sherlock Holmes," a four act play extracted by Dr. A. Conan Doyle and Mr. Gillette from the well-known romance of the former writer, has been successfully established at the Lyceum. It comes with a high reputation from America, which its London experience is not likely to belie. Were it not, indeed, that next spring will see the house once more in the possession of Sir Henry Irving, a twelve months' run might be anticipated for a piece which may claim to be one of the most spirited melodramas of modern days. No one episode of the "Adventures" or "Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes" has supplied the plot. The character is, however, the same that he appears in the various tales, portions of single stories have been laid under contribution, and the famous "Final Problem," in which criminal and detective, pursuer and pursued, perish together, has supplied a large share of the material. It is obviously impossible to present on the stage the various attempts of Professor Moriarty to destroy his arch-enemy, comprising as these do efforts to run over him in the roadway, to crush him beneath falling fragments of rock among the high Alps, or to bludgeon him to death in a street encounter. Neither would it satisfy public interest and sympathy to make the popular hero, who has seized so strongly upon general sympathy, die in the moment of victory.
A happy termination, expedient in most cases, is imperative in melodrama. No less necessary is a love interest. A new play has accordingly been built out of familiar materials, incidents capable of stage realisation have been introduced, and the hero has been provided with a heroine who is at once sweetheart and ally. This being, indispensable in a work of the class, is found in Alice Faulkner, a sister of the Miss Faulkner who was the victim of "an exalted personage." She is possessor of papers, &c., which she reserves for the purpose of exacting vengeance upon her sister's betrayer. These papers Sherlock Holmes has been paid to obtain. Others are sensible of their value, and Alice, though the secret of their hiding-place has been kept, is virtually a prisoner with James and Madge Larrabee, who seek for their own ends to lay hands upon them. No difficulty is found by Sherlock Holmes in obtaining possession of the documents, though out of a scrupulous regard for legality he leaves them in her possession, warning the Larrabees against molesting a woman in whom he has begun to feel an interest. Conscious of their impotence to fight against so astute an adversary, the Larrabees call in to their aid Professor Moriarty, the most deadly, scientific, and unscrupulous of criminals, a man in whom Sherlock Holmes recognises an equal, a foeman worthy of his steel. Now begins the long duel between these two masters of fence, which in the original brings, as has been said, both to the same end, since, locked in each other's arms, they fall over a precipice an immeasurable distance, but which, in the play, ends in the defeat and capture of Moriarty, the deliverance of London from its most dangerous criminal, and the union of Sherlock Holmes with the fair Alice, who, in her efforts to save him, has more than once faced terrible dangers. Poetic justice, accordingly, as is expedient, is administered all round.
It is useless to mar the pleasure of the playgoer by narrating the sequence of incident in a work which all are bound to see. Even more futile is it to describe what are the effects to which is due the sentiment of breathless horror with which the spectator is affected. A manipulation of light such as has not previously been attempted! is a main feature, but there are many scenes which owe everything to the powers of the actors. Not at all the highest order of drama is this play, which reaches us from America. It is, however, masterly in invention and appeals directly to the popular taste. The visitor to the Lyceum may count upon a series of sensations, and will be stirred and thrilled to his heart's content. Everything that scenery and action can do to foster delusion has been done and the effects produced are marvellous. Mr. William Gillette realises to the life the character of Sherlock Holmes. Very far from a stranger is he to London, but he has done nothing that is likely to be so popular as this. His performance is indeed supreme in sang-froid, and is also thoroughly magnetic. The Moriarty of Mr. Abingdon is a masterpiece in all respects. Miss Maude Fealy is a thoroughly sympathetic heroine, and Mr. Percy Lyndal is Dr. Watson. The whole was received with much favour, through three or four noisy malcontents tried to spoil our character for hospitality and interrupted or delayed Mr. Gillette's humorous speech. The churlishness of this reception is regrettable, but the demonstration is of no significance.
