The case of the missing red herring

Creation Theatre Company: Sherlock in Summertown

from Sunday, May 18 to Tuesday 27

Review by JON LEWIS

The Case of the Missing Red Herring

There’s a current story in The Stage suggesting that theatre is no longer fun. As if to disprove this article, Creation Theatre Company has developed a promenade production, Sherlock in Summertown, that could not be more fun. Written and directed by Creation’s artistic director, Helen Eastman, with a very marginal link to Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes novels and short stories, the play takes place over several locations, both inside and outside, in Summertown, north Oxford.

Prior to the event, audiences are sent a text message from Dr Watson who informs everyone to gather at the appropriately named Meet Point Coffee house. Here. he takes a call from Inspector Lestrade and our group of about a dozen are given a quest. A local newspaper, The Summertown Sun, is running a story about a missing Oxford university professor and a similarly absent treasure map. By coincidence, Sherlock is also AWOL and it is our task to locate the professor, the map and Sherlock. We don’t walk more than a mile in total as we decipher and follow clues.

Watson (Andy Owens, alternating with Simon Muller who is taking other groups), leads the group around Summertown, relating stories from his blog about Sherlock to group members walking by him, personalising narratives according to responses to the chatter. The group splits into three at one point as clues need to be gathered speedily. Other characters interact with us unexpectedly – a comic Mrs Hudson (Lucy Brenchley) providing both clues and some sandwiches for Dr Watson, and a mysteriously suave woman (Lydia-May Cooney) whose importance gradually emerges. The denouement, with the attention-seeking show-off Sherlock (Jon Edgley Bond), takes place in one of Summertown’s most prominent buildings, with the group expected to carry out further acts of sleuthing.

It's an enjoyable way to spend an hour and a quarter – more of an amuse-bouche than a plat du jour - as much of the time is spent solving clues rather than watching some acting. The interactive elements work well even if the Conan Doyle content is minimal. It’s impressive that Creation is constantly trying new ways to engage.