The Genesian Theatre is excited to be reopening on November 6 with Sherlock Holmes and the Death on Thor Bridge. The show was preparing to go into production when the theatre was forced to close owing to Covid-19, but the virus has had a positive side for the Genesian, central Sydney’s oldest operating community theatre.
In 2019 the premises housing the theatre were sold and the theatre eventually found a new home in Rozelle. However, the hotel planned for the site had to be shelved owing to Covid and now a Sherlock Holmes mystery, a favourite with Genesian audiences, opens in its old and charming home.
According to Carlin Hurdis, director of the new production, Patrick Magee who plays Holmes “is very knowledgeable about everything Sherlock”. His interest in Holmes was stimulated at an early age when his father introduced him to a computer game called Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective and in the same year his uncle gave him the 1985 film The Young Sherlock Holmes for Christmas. His preferred Sherlock Holmes is Jeremy Brett who appeared in the British TV series The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1984-1994) and Basil Rathbone, who played Holmes in 14 films between 1929 and 1946, rates a mention.
In 2019 Magee played the role of Holmes in the popular The Game is Afoot! An Improvised Sherlock Holmes Mystery. While a hilarious comedy involving audience participation, Magee was quoted at the time as saying that the character of Holmes was still recognisable – “he’s authoritative, upper class and very much in charge” – and this is the fascination of Holmes. He can be transmuted; consider the TV series Elementary, and the dark edginess of the Benedict Cumberbatch version. He can, as Magee points out, even be married as proposed by William Gillette who worked on a theatrical adaptation in 1899. But in essence he remains the same: arrogant perhaps, convinced of his superior mental acuity, sometimes a little cruel.
When Death on Thor Bridge opens, Holmes is without a case to solve, and is both bored and depressed. But not for long. Enter Grace Dunbar, an intelligent and independent woman (the sort of woman Holmes admires) who is the main suspect in the murder of her employer’s passionate Brazilian wife. We expect Holmes to solve the matter by the application of his formidable powers of observation and deduction, and to surprise us by focusing on what might seem to be an insignificant detail. There will be that “Aha!” moment and we look forward to it, and to Magee’s take on a character with whom he is so at home.
_______________
theatre@ssh.com.au
