Today we are speaking to Nick Lane, the creator and director of Blackeye Theatres new show Sherlock Holmes and the Hunt for Moriarty which is heading out on tour! It is currently playing at Theatre Royal in Winchester today and tomorrow and then it is heading to many towns including Hornchurch, Newcastle, Eastbourne, Bracknell and Lancaster to name a few – you can find all dates here. Today we find out all about it.
Hello! Tell us about yourself?
Hello. My name’s Nick Lane, I am the adaptor and director of Blackeyed Theatre’s new production Sherlock Holmes: The Hunt for Moriarty which is currently in rehearsals and begins touring in early September in Winchester before travelling all around the country.
Tell us a bit about the show.
Well, The Hunt for Moriarty is a half-adapted, half-original work. We’ve crafted an overarching narrative around a number of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s short Holmes stories, allowing us to explore the intellectual and philosophical rivalry between the great detective himself and the character many consider to be his nemesis, Professor Moriarty. The two previous adaptations that I’ve done for Blackeyed were both adapted from two of the full-length novels (The Sign of Four and The Valley of Fear), and they were great fun to do, but there was a sense that if the audience had read the books they’d know largely what was coming.
What’s exciting about this for me is that because a fair amount of the narrative is new to all, meaning that whether audiences are coming to Holmes new (and there will be some, which is exciting), from a background of knowing the TV or film adaptations, or directly from the books, they’ll all start on an even playing field and the mystery will be fresh to all of them.
How are rehearsals going?
Tremendously! We’ve mapped the entire play in less than a week, which is great. It gives us two more weeks (and the technical rehearsal) to really add detail. Next week we have the choreographer coming in and then we’ve got a visual element being added and a sound recording session, music’s being composed as I write… at this moment the whole thing’s like a really exciting factory. It’s all working really well.
What can you tell us about the stage set?
I can tell you that the brilliant Victoria Spearing who designs the sets for Blackeyed Theatre has done a fantastic job. It’s exactly what I wanted. I’m going to try not to give anything away with this, but something happens to Baker Street in one of the stories we’ve used, and I’ve used this particular incident as a framing device. Victoria really bought into the idea, and the set works perfectly. I know that’s cryptic but you’re just going to have to trust me – I’m staying nothing more!
Tell us a little bit about the cast.
Oh, they’re great. It’s a cast of six, five male actors, one female, and every one of them is phenomenal. I’ve worked with Gavin before (on the previous Sherlock adaptation in fact – he’s back as Moriarty) – he’s brilliant… and Eliot’s someone I’ve known for a while and had been hoping to work with for quite some time. He’s our Mycroft. The other four I had never met before the auditions, but I genuinely couldn’t be happier. Mark is a stunning Holmes. Ben’s characterisation as Watson is really calming; he makes a perfect foil for Mark’s Sherlock. Pippa is delightful as Hudson, a force to be reckoned with as Irene and plays all the other female characters with skill, and as for Robbie, everything he’s done so far has been fantastic. It’s superlatives all over the place!
What is the most challenging thing about doing the show?
Well, I don’t have to do the show, so this might be a question for the actors more than me! From a writer or director’s point of view I guess one of the most challenging things is trying to capture Conan Doyle’s world and characters, but in a way that gives the audience some surprises.
That kind of ties into another challenge, which is putting crime fiction on stage. The nature of the crime story, by and large – and certainly for a consulting detective like Holmes – is that the action begins once the crime has already happened, so it tends to all be reported action, you know. If you’re not careful you end up with scene after scene of the detective character questioning people and looking at things which may or not be clues. It can become quite dull.
So, the challenges: find a way to keep the narrative flowing, keep everyone guessing, try and make sure it’s consistent with Doyle’s characters… and give the audience some action. So… couple of challenges there!
The best thing about touring the show?
Again, I won’t be touring it, so I guess that’ll be another one for the actors. When I did tour – I was an actor for a while – I loved all of it. Playing in different theatres and getting different reactions from different audiences was always brilliant. Chatting to them afterwards.
But I also loved going to different towns. You know, you get to travel the country, see stuff, meet people, entertain them and get paid for it! There’s different types of touring obviously; if you’re doing one-night gigs and you’re constantly on the move, it’s harder to see much of anywhere… plus, touring’s tiring. It’s really not for everyone – but I think the tours that Blackeyed do give you a fair opportunity to experience different towns, which I always loved.
Plus, on a personal level – and do bear in mind I toured when I was younger and had a metabolism that didn’t move at the pace of a glacier – one of my other joys when travelling from town to town was pies and pasties.
I’d love getting pies and pasties from a local bakery. Seeing who had the finest crust, filling, gravy, cheese… whatever. In fact, last year when I was asked to sub in for Watson for a week, I indulged my old hobby and… wow. Let me tell you – the pies in Dundee are fantastic. Fantastic!
What have been some of the best highlights since doing the show?
We’re only a week in so it’s really hard to say, but I imagine I’ll still be listing this as a highlight in nine months’ time if you were to ask this question again… so I’m going to say that the way the company have gelled together and are working really hard for each other. That’s a highlight.
The way I’ve always worked in rehearsal, the first thing we do as a company is ‘map’ the play out. You work quickly through the play – or as quickly as you can manage – figuring out where each actor comes on in a scene, where they stand, what they bring in, what they take off, where they go next, do they move anything during a scene change… stuff like that. The feel and the detail of the characters and the scenes comes later; initially you map. So the fact that we are at where we’re at after one week, there’s some real detailed work going on. That’s terrific because it gives me real hope that an audience is going to respond to these people and the material.
What is the best reaction you have had from an audience member?
Okay, at the risk of sounding like a stuck record… because we’re still in rehearsals – ooh, well, actually I was going to say we’ve not had anyone outside of the company and leave it at that, but in truth we did have one person outside of the company watching the read-through! We’ve had one audience member! We’re rehearsing in South Hill Park in Bracknell, and South Hill Park has a ‘Friends’ scheme, so one of their contributors, as a perk, got to come along and listen to the read-through. His name was Kevin… and he loved it! And so, I can honestly, and rather proudly, say that as of this moment the audience reaction is 100% positive!
If people want to follow you on social media, where can they find you?
Me personally, I don’t have a large social media presence. That’s not me trying to sound like a Luddite; I just don’t have the time. I’m always writing and working and being busy in front of screens…by the end of the day the last thing I want to do is take a picture of my dinner and post it or video next door’s dogs getting trapped in a little tent. By contrast the Blackeyed Theatre socials are great. If you seek out their website I’m sure you’ll find everything you need.
Finally in three words why should people come to your show?
Okay, the three words I’m going to say are cracking good night. That’s what I’m hoping. If we get it right, and we’ve definitely got the team to do it, from the minute the show starts to the moment it ends that you’ll have a cracking good night.
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