A Study in Scarlet (A Study of)

 

Before driving, comedy, sex and even before Dr Who, Robert Lloyd discovered Sherlock Holmes. A Study in Scarlet (A Study of) is the story of his obsession. As someone prone to nerdy obsession, I had to love it.

MELBOURNE FRINGE 2010

Vicious Fish Theatre
Son of Loft, Fringe Hub

1 October 2010

Before driving, comedy, sex and even before Dr Who, Robert Lloyd discovered Sherlock Holmes. A Study in Scarlet (A Study of) is the story of his obsession. As someone prone to nerdy obsession, I had to love it.

Twelve-year-old Robert fell in love with Sherlock Holmes in Dubbo. He was the first person in ten years to borrow Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s book from the local library and still hasn’t recovered from his school production of a Holmes parody (with young Mr L in the lead) losing to an excerpt from The Crucible.

He intersperses his nerdy confessions, with an abridged telling of A Study in Scarlet, Doyle’s first Holmes story. I admit that I haven’t read any of the books – at 12, I was obsessed with Louisa May Alcott (Little Women) and KM Peyton (Flambards) and I’d discovered Dr Who on the telly – but wasn’t surprised to see how much I already knew about the famous detective. Amazing fictional characters are so loved that they creep into our popular culture. And now I’m inspired to read about him. But I might go straight to book two, as I feel like I know Scarlet now.

Being alone on the stage, Lloyd is every character.  His Holmes is hot. He’s suave and irresistible (and looks a bit like David Tennant). This is where this study gets really interesting, we get our deductive hats on and co-creator and director Scott Gooding steps in.

Gooding (who hadn’t read Holmes but is familiar with nerdy obsession) not only saved the show from being called The Me in Holmes, but ensures that it’s really a study of Lloyd.

Season Closed