The Speckled Band (review 23 september 1921)
"The Speckled Band" is a review published in The Times on 23 september 1921.
This is a review of the play The Speckled Band: An Adventure of Sherlock Holmes.
Review
"THE SPECKLED BAND."
ST. JAMES'S THEATRE REVIVAL.
- Dr. Grimesby Rylott ... Lyn Harding
- Enid Stonor ... Mary Merball
- Mrs. Staunton ... Grace Edwin
- Rodgers ... George Malett
- Alf ... Charles Barrett
- Mr. Scott Wilson ... Claude Watts
- Mr. Armitage ... Archibald Forres
- Mr. Longbrace ... J. J. Bartlett
- Mr. Brewer ... Arthur Cromer
- Inspector Downing ... William Barlot
- Coroner's Officer ... Edward Leader
- Mr. Holt Loaming ... Ernest Ruston
- Mr. James B. Montague ... Edward Stirling
- Mr. Milverton ... Alan Craven
- Billy ... Victor Pierpoint
- Dr. Watson ... Kenneth Rivington
- Mr. Sherlock Holmes ... H. A. Saintsbury
It is quite like old times to see Sherlock Holmes again. He is the last of the Eminent Victorians. His dressing-gown, his peculiar pipes, and his page-boy all date him; and he keeps to his proper date, while the persecuted heroine's dress is of the latest fashion. There is no incongruity, however, since our dear Sherlock is a fixed type, and, we hope, will always wear the same old clothes and smoke the same old pipes. And he is played again by his original exponent in this play, Mr. H. A. Saintsbury, so that, with the original Dr. Rylott, Mr. Lyn Harding, to face him, it is all according to Cocker. A roaring wild beast is this Dr. Rylott of Mr. Lyn Harding's, which makes him capital sport on the stage, but in real life would stamp him as guilty of every crime committed in his neighbourhood.
Why, however, drag in real life in speaking of a play which deals with something much more thrilling, a Sherlock Holmes romance? And the romantic, the creepily romantic, atmosphere is well preserved in the play. You seem to feel the spell that the terrible doctor has cast upon the household, the shivering girl, the terrified butler, and the harridan of a housekeeper. Miss Mary Merrall does her shivering gracefully and Miss Grace Edwin makes a really striking figure of the harridan.
But we have our doubts about the snake. It looks mechanical. We submit they ought to give us a real, live snake. Mr. Lyn Harding might be taught how to handle it. And there would always be the additional excitement of hoping that some night it might bite somebody. Even without that the play is quite exciting. It was received last night with great applause.
