It’s an oft-remarked oddity that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of the world's most famous fictional detective, Sherlock Holmes, was also a man utterly convinced of spiritualism and even the existence of fairies. While Holmes is a character defined by his adherence to proof, physical evidence and deductive logic, Doyle himself was gullible enough to be famously fooled by a series of doctored photographs known as the Cottingley Fairies.
F R Maher’s play takes much of her own research from her 2017 book The Secret of the Cottingley Fairies, but channelled through a narrative into a new adventure for Holmes and Watson. This play picks up many years after the final Doyle story ends, with the ageing, cantankerous Holmes (Harry Meacher) and the endlessly good-humoured Watson (Kenneth McConnell) investigating the origins and nature of the photographs. It’s a slightly meta affair, as the explicit motivation for the venture is because Holmes doesn’t want to be tarred with the besmirchment of Doyle’s reputation, and it’s made plain repeatedly that in this story universe, Holmes is somehow both manifest and yet a written creation.
Credit has to be given to the cast for throwing themselves into the midst of this with gusto. Meacher particularly seems to be ripping painful fury through his vocal cords with every angry line, while McConnell chews the scenery and does the requisite eye-rolling at the obsessive detective. There are also good turns from Kate Coldron and Guy Hepworth, who fill out the rest of the cast’s various roles. Praise is also due to the design, as it’s a nicely costumed play and the story plays out in a decent approximation of a Holmes case. But unfortunately it’s all rather dry.
Even the most hardened of Holmes fans will probably struggle to follow the complexities of what is essentially an investigative book, largely put on stage in monologues. Between more interesting scenes where the pair interview other characters, there are several lengthy scenes of Holmes pontificating about his discoveries and drawing conclusions. These also rather muddle the matters, as instead of revealing the truth, they compound the confusion. It’s not that the subject matter is over-complicated, rather that the way it’s told is simply baffling to anyone not versed in the Cottingley mystery and its various people and organisations.
Still, at the end of the day, it’s a new outing for Sherlock Holmes, and those of a strong bent towards Doyle’s detective will likely enjoy the piece for the nods and winks as well as the mystery. Others may well find themselves all a little bit baffled by a mystery that the world considered was more or less already solved.