The world premiere of Sherlock Holmes and the Poison Wood as a contemporary rock musical at the Watermill Theatre is inventive, entertaining and energetic. With plenty of dark humour, wordplay, and a lively musical score delivered by the talented actor musicians, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s story is set firmly in the 21st century by writer and director P. Burton-Morgan and composer and co-lyricist Ben Glassstone. Can Sherlock solve the unexplained death in the environmental protest camp? Can he offer any solutions to the world’s problems – global food production, climate and the ecological crisis, tech billionaires, big pharma and the pitfalls of social media?
We marvel at Sherlock’s (part shared by Connor Bannister and Dylan Wood) verbal dexterity and powers of deduction but he has his own demons – struggles with bulimia and a mother who became “as fat as whale” from eating junk food. The toxic mother/child theme is taken further with the relationship between Moriaty (Gillian Kirkpatrick) and her daughter Yorri (Em Williams).
Dr Amanda Watson (Me’sha Bryan) is played as a bubbly Brummy nutritionist who is media savvy and a contrast to Sherlock who professes to be “idiosyncratically luddite in my distaste for digital technologies.”
The plot revolves around the death by poison of various eco-warriors but there are other poisons in the show, namely junk food and poisonous posts on social media as well as Moriaty’s megalomania and plan to take over global food production – shades of big pharma and the creation of tech billionaires.
However, humour is never far away and Inspector Marlon Lestrade’s (Richard O. Peralta) obsession with food and love affair with doughnuts as expressed in songs such as The Joy on my Tongue entertain the audience while also exploring our relationship with food.
The numerous songs lighten the tone as well as advancing the plot. The set and lighting also help to create a fast pace. Scene changes are created by back projection such as maps, social media texts, the wood. The surtitles add to the techy atmosphere.
At the end of the show the word ‘Truth’ flashes up on the stage and the cast sing out the final message – “In this strange new reality only one thing can set us free. Put your faith back in the truth. Set your heart on the Truth.”
It is no accident that The Watermill has won the accolade of 2023’s Theatre of the Year. Shows like this show how richly they have deserved it.
Sherlock Holmes and the Poison Wood is playing until March 16 – tickets available here.
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