Theatre Memphis Presents Sherlock Holmes On and Off Stage

A specifically arranged commissioned art show of related Sherlock Holmes images opens with and runs through the October 15-31 production of Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure, the winner of the 2007 Edgar Award for Best Mystery Play at Theatre Memphis on the Lohrey Stage.

The Steven Dietz adaptation, Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure, is directed by John Rone and has the world's greatest fictional detective seemingly at the end of his remarkable career when a case presents itself that is too tempting to ignore. The King of Bohemia is about to be blackmailed by a notorious photograph and the woman at the heart of this crime is the famous opera singer, Irene Adler. With his trusted companion, Doctor Watson, at his side Sherlock Holmes pursues the case and marches right into the lair of the genius of crime, Professor Moriarty.

Rone, a seasoned actor/director from Memphis has previously directed at Theatre Memphis and was drawn to direct there again. "Directing the Theatre Memphis production of Stephen Dietz's Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure brings me full circle with my Grandmother since the basic frame of Dietz's play is the same William Gillette script she saw over a 100 years ago. To this Dietz has interwoven characters from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's A Scandal in Bohemia and The Final Problem. Therefore, for Holmes fans, Theatre Memphis is presenting an exciting new adventure with some very familiar characters doing some very unfamiliar things. My grandmother saw the actor William Gillette play Sherlock Holmes on stage shortly after the turn of the 20th Century. It must have made a big impression on her since she would still talk about it 60 and 70 years later. When it was my turn to encounter Mr. Holmes, he was in the guise of movie actor Basil Rathbone, whose air of patrician elegance was quite inspirational to a gawky teenager with braces. Even for me today, Sherlock Holmes has unending allure. HIs qualities are quite desirable but we can never really know him since he is surrounded by an impenetrable swirl of mystery. Sherlock Holmes is the thinking man's action hero and who wouldn't like to pretend to be him?"

Director Rone will be part of a "talk back" on October 24, 2010, at 4pm after the matinee performance. The session will be a discussion of the play and related topics and will include Tony Isbell (Sherlock Holmes in the Theatre Memphis production), Leo Bearman (local attorney and society member of the Giant Rats of Sumatra , a group that study and meet about Sherlock Holmes) and Michael Leslie, Professor of English at Rhodes College and the head of the British Studies at Oxford program. The talk back is free and open to the public.

As a tribute to those who have played Holmes on stage and screen, artist Lin Workman will have a one man show running in tandem with Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure. "Elementary: The Many Faces of Sherlock Holmes" is a show built specifically around the Theatre Memphis production. Workman's art in this show represents many of the real life people who came to fame playing Sherlock Holmes and his sidekick Doctor Watson. "I started off doing my favorite Holmes- Basil Rathbone," Workman says, " but wanted to show a variety of Sherlocks from different times and with different looks. I have Basil, Peter Cushing, Robert Downey Jr., Jeremy Brett, Michael Cain, and Sherlock Hemlock. Now I am working on James Bragington- a studio employee who was promoted to actor for the first full length British Holmes feature A Study in Scarlet because he looked like Holmes. I want to do one of Young Sherlock Holmes and maybe William Gillette." The show has been over a year in the works with the first contact being made in 2009 to Workman about a show to run with the Theatre Memphis production of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. That show did not materialize due to a schedule conflict but the communication channels were left open to discuss a show in 2010. The work in the Theatre Memphis show will all be in black and white acrylic paint airbrushed on canvases that are approximately 3' x 4'.

Workman is an accomplished cartoonist and muralist and has work that has appeared in the Memphis Flyer and The Commercial Appeal locally. He has been published nationally in Airbrush Action Magazine and Amazing Figure Modeler. He has completed murals for Pancho's Restaurant, McDonald's and Fitzgerald's Casino in Tunica. Formerly an artist and screen printer in the t-shirt industry and a graphic artist designing tombstones and other monuments, he is the creator of the web-comic Scared Silly and is the co-creator of the self-published comic book series Bushi Tales. Workman has also served as President and Vice President of the Mid-South Cartoonists Association.

An artist's reception for the collection created by Workman for this show will be held October 20, 2010, from 6pm - 8pm at Theatre Memphis, 630 Perkins Extended, in the upper and lower lobbies. The event is free and open to the public with the artwork available for purchase. Theatre Memphis will receive a portion of the proceeds from the sales.

Performance dates for Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure are October 15-31, 2010. Shows are at 7:30pm Wednesday, October 27 and Thursdays, 8pm on Fridays and Saturdays with matinees on Sunday at 2pm. Tickets are $23 for adults, $15 for students with a valid ID. Call 901.682.8323 to purchase tickets or go online to www.theatrememphis.org .

Theatre Memphis is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization located at 630 Perkins Extended (corner of Perkins and Southern) and is a community theatre whose mission is to provide outstanding theatrical experiences to enrich the lives of our audiences and participants.

Visit our website at www.theatrememphis.org.