The Secret of Sherlock Holmes: A Stage Play

by Jeremy Paul

From their initial meeting in Baker Street, through years of mystery and adventure and culminating in the ordeal and tragedy of Reichenbach Falls and its aftermath, Holmes and Watson form a unique pairing... Yet a dark thread runs through their years of friendship... It is as if a shadow haunts Holmes, a dark twin that pursues and threatens to consume him... What is the true explanation for the enigmatic Moriarty in the legend of Sherlock Holmes?

Genres: Plays, Mystery

64 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1991

Reviews

[Rena Sherwood · Rating 4 out of 5]

As far as I'm concerned, this play should be part of the Canon. This is a two-man play commissioned by the late great Jeremy Brett to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the publication of A Study in Scarlet. Brett also helped write the play although he declined to be listed in the writing credits. Whenever possible, dialogue from Doyle was used.

This is not a mystery in the usual sense, but is a close look at the singular friendship between two Victorian men. It is an intense psychological drama showing some of the cracks in Holmes' armor.

The only reason this gets four stars instead of five is because both Brett and Edward Hardwicke (Watson) changed some of the dialogue as they got used to the play. Their changes improved the play. These changes can be heard online at Jeremy Brett Info website.

Sadly, this play was never filmed with Brett and Hardwicke even though it went over 300 performances. There are some that claim that it was this play more than the Granada TV series that caused Brett to break down so frequently in the last few years of his life. He did physically fall ill near the end of the play's run, prompting a decision to cancel taking the play to America, Japan and elsewhere. Brett just could not do it. Whether there is any truth to the rumor that the play broke him is hard to tell, since Brett did suffer from bipolar disorder. This was the last play that Brett ever did.



This is a text-only copy of the original screenplay by Edgar-winning Jeremy Paul. There are no illustrations. There is a lovely introduction as to how the play came to be.

[Emily Pinching · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m on a Granada Holmes kick right now and discovered this. So deeply moving and I love the rewrite of the Empty House reunion – the most realistic adaptation of how that would play out imo. Jeremy Brett I miss you every day 🥲

[nadine · Rating 5 out of 5]

this was absolutely and utterly brilliant.

i thought that it would be a simple collection of holmes and watson's relationship and how it developed over the years, in spite of everything that happened to them, and i did receive that, for the first half of the play, but the second half was anything but what i expected, and i mean that in the best way possible.

i did entertain the idea that moriarty was nothing but a figment of holmes' imagination and it's a theory that i've seen people discuss before, but nothing made me believe it to be true as much as this. i would say, though, that the execution is very unrealistic, but i don't think that there can be a realistic way about it.

i like how jeremy paul handled watson and holmes' reactions to holmes returning because the original, the canon, isn't really satisfactory and the best i had seen was granada's, which was close to canon but a bit better, so this was an improvement and something i understand must've been really difficult doing. because of that, and because of everything in the play, really, i'd say that jeremy paul had a really good understanding of holmes and watson as characters. a lot of the things that they said were verbatim from the canon and what wasn't seemed so close to canon that, if someone were to tell me that the lines were from the stories, i would honestly believe them and i wouldn't even question it. the execution of holmes and watson is so well done and absolutely brilliant. i would've loved to see this on stage.

i understand that not everyone would like this, especially those who read the holmes stories for the mysteries and the adventures, because this is anything but. however, i really liked it. it's great insight into holmes and watson as characters. i would recommend it to sherlock holmes fans who are more invested in the characters than the mysteries.

[Adrián Asturias · Rating 3 out of 5]

Para acabar el reto de lectura tenía que leer un libro que deje sin terminar. Reconozco que cuando esto me pasa me cuesta mucho decir que lo vuelvo a intentar y por eso elegí esta pequeña obra de teatro. En ella conocemos la historia de Holmes y Watson y su enfrentamiento a Moriarty con una gran sorpresa final.

[Jenna · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Secret of Sherlock Holmes is incredibly resonant of the Doyle canon. The characters are true and quite rounded for a work as short as this. When I finished reading, I found myself at first unable to separate the Holmes of Jeremy Paul's creation from the character to whom the name of Sherlock Holmes actually belongs. This is something I'll read many times more.

[Playwright42 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Remember everything you liked about sherlock? The cases, his likable qualities, the existence of plot? All of that gets chucked out the window in this play and is replaced by rambling. Sherlock (spoiler alert!) death for a good chunk of the play is the only mildly good part.

[Mel · Rating 3 out of 5]

LIstened to an audio recording of one 1989 performance with Jeremy Brett and Edward Hardwicke. (Available here: http://www.jeremybrett.info/st_holmes...)