Sherlock Holmes remains one of the most iconic characters in British fiction. The legendary detective’s outings created by Arthur Conan Doyle have been recounted since the 19th century in all forms of entertainment. From novels to video games, Holmes and the trusty Dr Watson continue to hold a prominent place in pop culture. Most recently, the duo have been causing quite a stir on stage.
Across the many renditions of Holmes, there has regularly been an outing in and around Brighton. So, it was only fitting that the Our Star Theatre Company would stage a hefty run of their show, Sherlock’s Excellent Adventure, right here in Brighton.
The sell-out run helped to push the show out on three UK tours and now more dates at the Savoy Theatre in Monmouth and Marine Theatre in May.The comedy show certainly struck a chord in Brighton, furthering the prominence of Holmes in modern entertainment and playing to the long-held ties between the city and the character’s stories.
A popular character to bring to the stage
Sherlock Holmes is so well-known that any production featuring his name will certainly garner interest. The stage play’s comedic take is certainly a novel one, and one which worked very well among the Brighton audiences who sold out the theatre on each performance. Still, Holmes doesn’t even need speaking lines in entertainment to be a success.
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The TV series Sherlock, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman, was incredibly well-received, holding a 97/100 rating on Reelgood and an 88/100 on Metacritic. On the big screen, led by Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law, just two Sherlock Holmes movies collected over $1 billion at the worldwide box office in 2009 and 2011. The movies also infused their fair share of comedy, but not quite to the extent of the play.
Holmes around Brighton
In the original writings of Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes would predominantly operate as a consulting detective in and around London from his address on Baker Street. However, in the years since his final appearance in this initial line of stories that concluded in 1927, many other creatives took on the mantle of telling a Sherlock story, which includes well over 25,000 adaptations for stage, and toured the character across the country.
In the popular 2011 Guy Ritchie movie Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, which is based on The Adventure of the Final Problem, Dr Watson gets to finish the film down in Brighton for a well-deserved getaway. Writer Val Andrews, who was from Hove, wrote over 20 Holmes pastiches, with his second being Sherlock Holmes and the Brighton Pavilion Mystery.
Being such a draw for tourists, Brighton has long been the home of Holmes stage plays. Sherlock’s Excellent Adventure is the more recent smash-hit success to come to the city, but it wasn’t long ago that a more serious adaptation of a Holmes novel set up shop at the Brighton Open Air Theatre. In September 2023, British Touring Shakespeare stages The Hound of the Baskervilles to critical and audience acclaim.
The legendary Sherlock Holmes can draw an audience wherever he’s depicted, so hopefully, it won’t be long before either Sherlock’s Excellent Adventure returns to Brighton or a new production comes to the city!
