Review by Sophia Gilet
The Adventures of the Improvised Sherlock Holmes begins before the audience is even seated when the people lining up to enter are given suggestion slips to write down and hand to the performers.
Improvisation is a skills that requires just as much effort as any Shakespeare and when done right will have the audience on side and laughing out loud. The 3 performers where excellent improvisers and were able to justify anything that happened from having to speak to oneself, to technical mishaps and audience coming in partway through the show. They captured the style of Sherlock Holmes and Dr John Watson beautifully even poking a little bit of fun at the extravagant deductions of Sherlock and the faithful slightly naive Dr John Watson.
The show is set up with a Dr Watson (played in this particular show by the delightful Alice Winn) sitting at the gentleman's club reminiscing about their adventures with Sherlock Holmes
Then an unpublished story comes up in the discussion ( the story title supplied by an audience suggestion slip) and so begins a wild story that will have children and adults alike laughing.
The Venue was packed with all ages and the 3 performers had everyone laughing from 12 year old's to 90 year old's. While some of the jokes were only able to be appreciated by adults the show stayed supremely entertaining for all. The scenes introduced you to new characters and you got to see the intertwining stories unfold as the story got more and more convoluted in a way only a Sherlock Holmes story could. With red herrings, Maids, lords, senators, murder and wedding the audience were transported back to 1902.
This show brings all the best trademarks of Sherlock Holmes, with his caped coat, his pipe his brilliant deductions, crazy assortment of side characters and a fawning Dr Watson onto a stage in Perth. Regardless of whether you are a fan of one particular Sherlock -be it Basil Rathbone of Benedict Cumberbatch- or not a fan at all, you will enjoy yourself.
The set was 2 chairs and some costume changes but these improvisers strode around and created compelling diverse characters in an instance. The two male improvisers Daniel Nils Roberts and Tom Skelton worked incredibly well together and and quipped and snarked back and forth at glorious speed. Often just leaving the audience enough space to laugh before they were back onto the adventure.
Tom Skelton played the detective with incredible presence and energy. With Daniel Nils Roberts playing off of Tom and Alice in increasingly more weird and wonderful ways.
This show is a gift that keeps on giving with observations and lines that will have you chuckling long after the show has finished. With each show being completely different, there is no reason not to go every day. You are sure to be drawn in and laughing every single time as this trio of humour and madness take you on the next big Sherlock Holmes Adventure.
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