June 14th, 15th and 16th were the nights of the awaited performance of Silent Hands Creative Circle’s production of Ed Lange’s Sherlock Holmes’ Secret Life. The play was directed by Jehan Bastians and co-produced by Javin Thomas and Billam Poulier. An eager audience waiting to be thrilled moved into the Lionel Wendt auditorium when the play commenced at 7.30 p.m. on the opening night when I attended the play.
The cast comprised a mish-mash of pros as well as amateurs, inclusive of the likes of Neidra Williams, Anuruddha Fernando, Shanaka Amarasinghe, Roshni Gunaratne, Kanishka Herat, Viran Corea, Andre Perera and Lauren W. Bastians. The play followed the story of a young, beautiful woman, “Miss. Smith” brought to Sherlock in a bid to retrieve her lost memory and thus disclose her identity. Though the task seems daunting and dreary to start with (even to Holmes and Dr. Watson!), the prospect of getting any far with both men becoming amorously tangled with the “rapturously lovely” young woman, makes the case all the more delicate and drawn-out.
With Professor Moriarty discovered to be contriving some nasty schemes earlier on in the play, the risks in confiding in a stranger, and intimating details to her, escalate. Holmes and Dr. Watson remain unconvinced and relentless in Miss. Smith posing any form of threat and pursue the case (and their passion) with all their might.
The revelation of Miss. Smith’s identity turns out to be layered, and each one a fresh surprise and not all are exactly well-received. The woman is found to be involved with Moriarty for a length of time, and neither of the investigators is prepared to give up on their hopes or entertain any possibility of anything looming as yet.
The chief of obnoxious revelations, at the mercies of Moriarty, come in the form of one that stabs Holmes in his heart of hearts. Just before her unsolicited death on stage, Miss Smith’s utmost treachery is revealed (in being a lasting accomplice of Moriarty’s), but she’s gone before audience’s vexation amasses. An overwhelmed Holmes, bids everyone to let bygones be bygones and never to repeat the matter. In addition to a creative gist of what Sherlock’s ‘secret life’ could have been, the script relates, perhaps his only and worst failure.
Andre Perera, playing Professor Moriarty conveyed a rather convincing depiction of the foul genius. In character, he was consistent and realistic and heightened credibility on the whole. A commendable deal of effort and preparation was evident.
Shanaka Amarasinghe played Sherlock and seemed to have a good understanding of what his role entailed. It is not easy to unleash an emotional side to an ace detective. Holmes’ sensibility was sometimes difficult to relate to, in that the transition from his emotional side to ingenuity and vice versa came a tad bit too abruptly, of course, according to what the script dictated.
Mrs. Hudson’s role was played by Neidra Williams. Ed Lange’s version showed a creative facet to the orthodox Mrs. Hudson, she wasn’t as dim as believed to be, and in fact crucial to development of plot. Neidra was a proper choice to the task. On that note, the play as a whole was dependent on the contributions of a lot of characters, nearly the whole cast, in terms of development – another savoury twist to the conventional one-man act written by Doyle.
Kanishka Herat staged a dedicated performance of the young Watson. More than the typical side kick, Herat played his part of counterpart, even rival when it came to Miss. Smith, satisfactorily.
The play was a rollercoaster ride, albeit likely twists and ghastly surprises which are perhaps quite characteristic of a Sherlock Holmes tale. Ed Lange’s script is imaginative at least and innovative at most, and is an interesting experimenting of the characters created by Sir Arthur Conon Doyle.
The evening proved to be entertaining, and the audience reacted well and were quick in their response. The plot, certain ambiguities and unusual dimensions to known characters all left room for interpretation, and hence healthy audience involvement. The production by Silent Hands Creative Circle is a commendable start in local theatre because it proved to be a unique venture in terms of genre and setting.
Co-Sponsor for the production was the Standard Chartered Bank while LITE FM and TNL Radio were Electronic Media sponsors and Harpos, the ticket sponsor. The Sunday Times and Daily Mirror were exclusive print media sponsors.
By Nivedha Jeyaseelan
Pix by Samantha Perera
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