Tag Archives: Blake Kubena

SHERLOCK HOLMES: THE VALLEY OF FEAR

★★½

Southwark Playhouse Borough

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SHERLOCK HOLMES: THE VALLEY OF FEAR at Southwark Playhouse Borough

★★½

“Despite a superb effort from the cast to deliver the vast array of characters, the dark twisting intercontinental plot failed to capture its audience”

Sherlock Holmes: The Valley of Fear is not the usual ‘Holmes’ story. Adapted and directed by Nick Lane, it follows two mysteries simultaneously. One case set in a manor in Britain and one in the coalfields of Pennsylvania, filled with unscrupulous characters and mysterious motives. The tale started off slowly, and continued slowly and ended slowly. It is possible that it was more suited to its pace and layout in the book, however this adaptation was confusing, long and frankly boring. A bad case of ‘tell and no show’ occurred, not even Dr Watson could cure this affliction, although he did describe how to do so at length. A handful of specific moments of action felt exciting and held stakes that added to the drama (Action by Robert Myles). The direction made little flair of the eccentricates of the characters and the occasional moment of fun choices (actors bobbing about in a carriage during a conversation) made the majority of the flatness in scenes feel more energy-sapping. The eventual conjoining of the stories felt unclear in many ways and the finale felt like a ‘to-be-continued’ was in implied.

The actors must receive significant praise. Delivering the two mysteries required multi-rolling in and out of characters and their respective accents in slick on stage transitions. In a surprising casting decision, Holmes and Watson also multirole as minor characters in the US plot and both played this wonderfully. Admittedly, reading the cast list highlights multiple characters that could not be identified from the show. Watson is depicted as a mild-mannered companion and observer, occasionally inducing laughs (Joseph Derrington). Holmes is a contemplative thrill seeking sleuth (Bobby Bradley) of typical stoic Victorian stock. Bradley and Derrington make a believable duo and make the most of the moments afforded to them to show their dynamic. As the US plot unravels, we meet Jack McMurdo AKA Birdy Edwards AKA John Douglas (Blake Kubena). Kubena delivers an intriguing performance, injecting charm and style into scenes. The ensemble team shine in this production as Inspector McDonald/Officer Jasper/Ames/Bodymaster McGinty/Cecil Barker and…Professor Moriarty (Gavin Molloy). Molloy steals the show as he fights the script to distinguish his roles and deliver memorable moments, including a genuinely gripping death scene and funny delivery as bumbling Cecil Barker. Equal in talent Mrs Hudson/Officer Marvin/ Ettie Shafter/Mrs Allen and Mrs Ivey Douglas (Alice Osmanski) who utilises her considerable range to deliver similar roles as differently as possible, bouncing off Molloy expertly.

 

 

The technical elements of the show could have assisted in differentiating the setting or enhancing the atmosphere more. Almost all scenes were burnished in the same yellow tungsten glow, whether located in Baker Street, Pennsylvania or Tunbridge Wells. The sound design included live singing, which enhanced scene transitions and added atmosphere, but was abandoned for the most part in Act II (Tristan Parks). The set provided the backdrop of a grimy Victorian wallpaper that peeled into the wooden slats of a downtrodden mining town invoking setting rather than providing levels (Victoria Spearing). The costumes were appropriately period and aesthetically pleasing, but did little to separate the male characters beyond a pair of glasses (Naomi Gibbs).

The Valley Of Fear may be one of the most popular Holmes mysteries, but it did not translate well to stage in this adaptation. Despite a superb effort from the cast to deliver the vast array of characters, the dark twisting intercontinental plot failed to capture its audience. Rather than battling Moriarty in a game of wits, the audience were battling their minds from wandering to other iterations of these characters.


SHERLOCK HOLMES: THE VALLEY OF FEAR at Southwark Playhouse Borough

Reviewed on 28th March 2024

by Jessica Potts

Photography by Alex Harvey-Brown

 

 

 

Previously reviewed at Southwark Playhouse venues:

POLICE COPS: THE MUSICAL | ★★★★ | March 2024
CABLE STREET – A NEW MUSICAL | ★★★ | February 2024
BEFORE AFTER | ★★★ | February 2024
AFTERGLOW | ★★★★ | January 2024
UNFORTUNATE: THE UNTOLD STORY OF URSULA THE SEA WITCH A MUSICAL PARODY | ★★★★ | December 2023
GARRY STARR PERFORMS EVERYTHING | ★★★½ | December 2023
LIZZIE | ★★★ | November 2023
MANIC STREET CREATURE | ★★★★ | October 2023
THE CHANGELING | ★★★½ | October 2023
RIDE | ★★★ | July 2023
HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS … | ★★★★★ | May 2023
STRIKE! | ★★★★★ | April 2023

SHERLOCK HOLMES: THE VALLEY OF FEAR

SHERLOCK HOLMES: THE VALLEY OF FEAR

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Stags

Stags

★★★★

Network Theatre

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Stags

Stags

Network Theatre

Reviewed – 17th May 2021

★★★★

 

“moves like a large truck—slow to get going, but once on the move—impossible to stop”

 

Cameron Corcoran’s Stags, presented by Off Main Stage Productions at the Network Theatre, Waterloo, is an intense, gritty drama exploring all the unfinished business between a dead father and his two sons. Younger son Tony (Blake Kubena) returns home to find his father (Da, played by Tim Molyneux) dead in an armchair and surrounded by broken furniture. Tony’s older brother Conn (James Finnegan), just released from prison, is nowhere in sight.

In sixty minutes, Stags covers familiar territory made famous in the dramas of American playwrights Arthur Miller and Sam Shepard, but Corcoran gives it a decidedly Irish twist by setting the play in Dublin. Stags is a pressure cooker play, always hovering on the edge of violence, no matter how much civility smart blue suit Tony attempts to bring back to the wreckage he left behind. For starters, he’s still renting space in his memories to the abuse he suffered from his father and brother, and possibly his mother as well. The first half of Stags deals with all that as Tony confronts his father’s corpse in a memory play. The two rekindle, in bitter recriminations, the wary circling around that characterized their relationship when Da was alive. But Da is dead and confined to his armchair, so the resentments on both sides simmer along without resolution until the second half when Conn returns home. By now we know enough about Conn (and the way Da has nurtured violence in the home) to know it is only a matter of time before the brothers come to blows.

Playwright Corcoran handles this material with confidence. Stags moves like a large truck—slow to get going, but once on the move—impossible to stop. It smashes everything in its path. The play is a great piece for actors, and it gives Molyneux, Finnegan and Kubena plenty to do. Molyneux is particularly impressive, since he has to work from that armchair. Finnegan deftly handles the promise of violence fulfilled as Conn goads his younger brother into shedding his veneer of education and civility. Kubena holds the play together with a difficult role that requires him to shift between playing nice and exploding into nasty. Director Naomi Wirthner uses the space economically, and well. This is a bare bones production that focuses on the acting, and rightly so.

If you have a taste for this kind of drama, you’ll find Stags well worth your time. The Network Theatre space can be a challenge to find, but keep searching even if the location seems unlikely. The space, and this play, are well suited to one another.

 

 

Reviewed by Dominica Plummer

 


Stags

Network Theatre until 22nd May

 

Reviewed this year by Dominica:
Public Domain | ★★★★ | Online | January 2021
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice | ★★★ | Online | February 2021
Adventurous | ★★½ | Online | March 2021
Tarantula | ★★★★ | Online | April 2021

 

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