The wet and windy night outside provided the perfect backdrop as the audience gathered at The Beehive, Honiton, on Saturday, November 28, for the Honiton Players’ production of When Holmes Met Watson, written by John Gregory and co-directed with Trevor Patch.
Billed as ‘The Whodunnit Musical Comedy’, this innovative piece certainly lived up to its description as well-known names from the Sherlock Holmes adventures, intertwined with characters from the Cluedo board, met the music from Mama Mia with a touch of Agatha Christie on the side!
Was the mysterious Moriarty really a rock band promoter? Was the endearing but slightly dim Holmes really an innocent tax inspector, and was the corporate Dr Sally Watson quite such a goody two shoes?
Who was the mysterious Penny, who seemingly came from nowhere, and was the long-haired Reverend escaping from another role in Mrs Brown’s Boy’s?
Who knows, and did it matter, as the bodies began to stack up in the ballroom of the isolated venue! The ghostly howls of the dog, Basket, could be heard above the storm raging outside, as land lines went down and mobile signals lost, severing all contact with the outside world!
As the cast gathered in true Christie tradition for the denouement, the mysterious Penny was revealed as the perpetrator due to her obsession with Cluedo.
Holmes and Watson fell in love and were married by the Rev Green, whose Scottish cook was none other than Miss Scarlett, and Trevor Patch was prevented from completing a ‘Full Monty’ in his role as the ubiquitous Detective Inspector, cunningly disguised as a stripper gram! Shaun Bonetta and Sally Cregan playing Holmes and Watson were well supported by a cast of talented performers and musicians, with some terrific singing from John Walker and Anita Tipping.
This was a real ‘off the wall’ production full of musical nostalgia and a script peppered with song titles, ending in true Time-Warp fashion as Tomorrow became Yesterday and all the dead bodies miraculously resurrected! Well that’s The Name of the Game but Thankyou for the Music – great fun!
Review by Tricia Barclay