2 Sherlock Holmes Adventures
Ottawa Fringe Festival
4.5 Stars
2 Sherlock Holmes Adventures was an unexpected treat at this year’s Fringe Festival. Amid predictable stand-up comedy routines, several absurdist theatre pieces and a veritable inundation of self-confessional monologues, it was a joy and a delight to see a well-wrought piece of traditional theatre.
Well, not entirely traditional… The clever element of this show – which essentially recreates two stories directly from Arthur Conan Doyle’s text with just two actors – was that both actors played almost all of the characters. And I don’t mean that they divided the characters between them – no, both actors played Sherlock Holmes. And Watson. And everyone else.
Kenneth Brown and John Huston are incredibly talented, and their chemistry onstage is evident throughout. Their characterizations are solid (apart from the female characters, who are more like caricatures than charicterizations), and they seamlessly swap roles between them, with nothing more than a subtle gesture and (occasionally), the toss of a deerstalker hat.
2 Sherlock Holmes Adventures is the sort of professional-level theatre piece that we are seeing less and less at Fringe theatre festivals, and it is a shame. Because this is a clever, compelling piece of theatre with two actors who are adept at their craft. This show is highly recommended, and should not be missed!