Sherlock Book Reviews - Don’t Go Into the Cellar Mr. Holmes
Posted by Steve Emecz on
Jonathan Goodwin is an acclaimed actor, noted for his association with the “Don’t Go Into the Cellar” theatre company, in which “[t]he Victorian and Edwardian eras’ finest chillers and thrillers live again! [The] theatre company bring[s] new adaptations of nineteenth-century literature’s greatest ghost and horror stories to modern-day audiences at venues across the U.K.” Sadly, with the onset of the COVID pandemic, these performances were abruptly limited. But Mr. Goodwin adapted. Instead of live performances, he began to offer online performances, often in conjunction with MX Publishing. And along the way, he produced several scripts which have now been reprinted in this volume.
The five performances in this book aren’t strictly scripts. Rather, they’re monologues – Holmes telling us a story – with occasional stage directions provided to set the scene. Two of these tales are written by Mr. Goodwin, and three were adapted from pastiches by master pasticheur Tony Reynolds from his collection “The Lost Stories of Sherlock Holmes”. (Mr. Reynolds: Here’s hoping you’ll return to Watson’s tin dispatch box sooner rather than later and give us some more stories.”
Mr. Goodwin’s online performances are quite reminiscent of Jeremy Brett – which is his intention, as described in the introduction to the book. His performances can be viewed online, and audio performances can be purchased at his website. But for something more permanent, the book is the thing – and I’m glad to add this to my collection.
The book is available from:
Amazon USA Book Depository (free worldwide shipping)
You can get mp4's of many of the performances from The Cellar Website.
Jonathan was the winner of the Dracula Society Award 2021 - previous winners include Benedict Cumberbatch and Mark Gatiss.
