SHERLOCK HOLMES

Play Guide Arizona Theatre Company

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

CONTENTS

3 4 4 5 6 12 16 17 24 29 31 33

WHO WE ARE 36 GEOGRAPHY OF LONDON INTRODUCTION TO THE PLAY 40 DISCUSSION QUESTIONS AND ACTIVITIES SYNOPSIS THE CHARACTERS SHERLOCK HOLMES — THE WORLD'S MOST FAMOUS DETECTIVE ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE THE PLAYWRIGHT INTERVIEW WITH DAVID AND JEFFREY ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON AND THE SUICIDE CLUB THE EDWARDIAN ERA THE BUILDUP TO WORLD WAR I GLOSSARY OF TERMS

It is Arizona Theatre Company’s goal to share the enriching experience of live theatre. This play guide is intended to help you prepare for your visit to Arizona Theatre Company. Should you have comments or suggestions regarding the play guide, or if you need more information about scheduling trips to see an ATC production, please feel free to contact us: Tucson: Stephen Wrentmore Phoenix: Cale Epps Associate Artistic Director Education Manager (520)884-8210 ext 8506 (602)256-6899 ext 6503 (520)628-9129 fax (602)256-7399 fax Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Suicide Club Play Guide compiled and written by Jennifer Bazzell, Literary Manager. Discussion questions and activities prepared by Cale Epps, Phoenix Education Manager. Layout by Gabriel Armijo.

Support for ATC’s Education and Community Programming has been provided by:

SPONSORS

Organizations APS Arizona Commission on the Arts Bank of America Foundation City Of Glendale Community Foundation for Southern Arizona Downtown Tucson Partnership Enterprise Holdings Foundation Ford Motor Company Fund Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold Foundation Gannett JPMorgan Chase National Endowment for the Arts Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture PICOR Charitable Foundation Scottsdale League for the Arts Stonewall Foundation Target The Boeing Company The Johnson Family Foundation, Inc. The Marshall Foundation The Maurice and Meta Gross Foundation The Max and Victoria Dreyfus Foundation The Stocker Foundation The William L. and Ruth T. Pendleton Memorial Fund Tucson Pima Arts Council

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Individuals Mr. and Mrs. Michael Amerson Ms. Jessica L. Andrews and Mr. Timothy W. Toothman Mr. and Mrs. Barry Baker Ms. Beth A. Bank Mr. and Mrs. Franklin L. Bennett Ms. Denise Birger Mrs. Ann Blackmarr Mr. Brian Blaney Ms. Natalie Bohnet Jana Bommersbach Mr. Robert Booker Ms. Sally Branch Ms. Shirley J. Chann Mr. Thomas Chapman Mr. and Mrs. Robert Clark Mr. Darren Connell Ms. Janice Copeland Mr. and Mrs. James Darling Mr. Jim DeGirolamo Mr. Larry Deutsch and Mr. William Parker Sharon Dupont McCord Mr. and Mrs. Bruce L. Dusenberry Ms. Laura Evans Mr. and Mrs. Burton Faigen Mr. and Mrs. Edward Farmilant Ms. Catherine M. Foley Ms. Sandra Foss Mr. and Mrs. Eric Freedberg Mr. Jack Friedland Mr. and Mrs. Jeffrey P. Gaia

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Mr. Henry Gallin Ms. Kate Garner Dr. Mary Jo Ghory Mr. Patric Giclas and Mrs. Gail M. Giclas Mr. and Mrs. David Ira Goldstein Mrs. Laura Grafman Kristie Graham Mr. and Mrs. Jon Grasse Mr. and Mrs. Paul Green Mr. Greg B. Hales Mr. David Hansen Mr. Terrence M. Hanson Ms. Athia L. Hardt Mr. Ken Heron Leigh Herr Mr. and Mrs. M. Langdon Hill Megan Hilty Mr. Gary Jordan Mr. Richard Kautz Mr. Darrel Kidd Mr. Randall Kincaid Mr. Everett L. King III Mr. and Mrs. Dennis Knight Mr. Kenneth Kociuba Mr. and Mrs. Richard C. Kraemer Mr. Jeff Kunkel Ms. Moniqua Lane Mr. Jeff Lemon Mr. William C. Lewis and Mr. Rick K. Underwood Mr. Ray Lombardi Meilani Lombardi Andres Ina Manaster

Ms. Norma Martens Hamilton McRae Ms. Rita A. Meiser Ms. Thelma Miller Mr. and Mrs. Fred A. Nachman III Thomas C. Patterson Ms. Linda Pedrigi Mr. Bryan Perri Ms. Dana Pitt Mr. Robert Present and Ms. Deborah Oseran Mr. and Mrs. John D. Ratliff Jr. Ms. Marsha Reingen Dr. and Mrs. Sanford H. Roth Ms. Jennifer Ruddle Mr. Fernando Romero and Ms. Dina Scalone-Romero Drs. John and Helen Schaefer Mr. Michael C. Schroeder and Mr. Steven J. Eagleson Mr. and Mrs. Michael Seiden Dr. Maurice J. Sevigny and Mrs. Shirley Sevigny Salim Shafi Mr. and Mrs. Elliott J. Solomon Mr. and Mrs. Robert Stowe Dr. and Mrs. Ronald S. Weinstein Ms. Mary White Mr. Russ Wiles Quinn Williams Leslie Woodruff

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ARIZONA THEATRE COMPANY: WHO WE ARE Thousands of people make our work at ATC possible!

WHO WE ARE

Arizona Theatre Company is a professional, not-for-profit theatre company. This means all of our artists, administrators and production staff are paid professionals, and the income we receive from ticket sales and contributions goes right back into our budget to create our work, rather than to any particular person as a profit. Each season, ATC employs hundreds of actors, directors and designers from all over the country to create the work you see on stage. In addition, ATC currently employs about 100 staff members in our production shops and administrative offices in Tucson and Phoenix during our season. Among these people are carpenters, painters, marketing professionals, fundraisers, stage directors, computer specialists, sound and light board operators, tailors, costume designers, box office agents, stage crew -the list is endless- representing an amazing range of talents and skills.

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We are also supported by a Board of Trustees, a group of business and community leaders who volunteer their time and expertise to assist the theatre in financial and legal matters, advise in marketing and fundraising, and help represent the theatre in our community.

Roughly 150,000 people attend our shows every year, and several thousands of those people support us with charitable contributions in addition to purchasing their tickets. Businesses large and small, private foundations and the city and state governments also support our work financially. All of this is in support of our mission: to create professional theatre that continually Temple of Music and Art in Tucson, Arizona strives to reach new levels of artistic excellence and that resonates locally, in the state of Arizona and throughout the nation. In order to fulfill its mission, the theatre produces a broad repertoire ranging from classics to new works, engages artists of the highest caliber, and is committed to assuring access to the broadest spectrum of citizens. Arizona Theatre Company

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INTRO

SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE ADVENTURE OF THE SUICIDE CLUB INTRODUCTION TO THE PLAY In the heart of London, behind the impassive facade of a windowless house, some of Europe’s most powerful men gather to play a game. The game is murder and this is The Suicide Club. But the Club has a new member: Sherlock Holmes-brilliant, perceptive, the greatest detective in the English-speaking world. Does Holmes wish to die? Will he have to kill? Can his old friend Dr. Watson save him? Or doesn't Holmes want to be saved? A beguiling World Premiere thriller commissioned by ATC from one of our favorite authors brings the famous detective alive in a tale full of mystery, twists and chills.

Costume rendering for Sherlock Holmes by designer Matthew J. LeFebvre

SYNOPSIS

SYNOPSIS

It’s 1914 and the game’s afoot. Sherlock Holmes, solver of all mysteries great and small, cannot bear the thought that he might be losing his mental abilities. His dear friend, Dr. John H. Watson is understandably concerned: the great Sherlock Holmes…suicidal? In the foggy world of London’s cobbled streets exists a group of kindred spirits with similar longings and intents. When Sherlock Holmes gets inducted into The Suicide Club, he quickly learns that there are men of greater station than he who wish to die. But is there someone helping them along more than it seems? When the odds of who lives and who dies and who will carry out the deed are determined by luck and chance, anything is possible. Or is it? Is the diabolical plan of the villain bigger than anything Sherlock Holmes has ever encountered before? The master of all detectives comes head-to-head with a puzzling mystery that questions the boundaries of friendship, love and murder.

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Costume rendering for Dr. Watson by designer Matthew J. LeFebvre

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CHARACTERS

THE CHARACTERS Sherlock Holmes: The world’s greatest detective, astute observer of detail. Dr. John H. Watson: Sherlock’s former housemate and best friend. Also, the chronicler of and companion in Sherlock’s adventures. Prince Nikita Starloff: An adopted “son” of the imperial family of Russia.

Actor Remi Sandri who plays Sherlock Holmes

Christiane de LaBegassier: A French woman and romantic interest of Nikita Starloff. Club Secretary: A mysterious woman who conducts the secret meetings of The Suicide Club. Mr. Williams: A member of The Suicide Club. Mr. Richards: A member of The Suicide Club. Mr. George: A member of The Suicide Club. Mr. Henry: A member of The Suicide Club.

Actor Jeff Steitzer who plays Dr. Watson

Mr. Roundy: A member of The Suicide Club. Mycroft Holmes: The brother of Sherlock Holmes. Mrs. Hudson: Sherlock’s landlady. Inspector Micklewhite: An inspector with Scotland Yard. Lucy O’Malley: A madam. A.C. Crosse: A recently deceased gentleman. Hotel Clerk Actor Alexandra Tavares who plays Christiane de LaBegassier

A Lady Journalist Older Lady

Actor Nicholas Bailey who plays Prince Nikita Starloff

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HOLMES

SHERLOCK HOLMES: THE WORLD’S MOST FAMOUS DETECTIVE Say the name Sherlock Holmes and people immediately know of whom you speak. Though the world’s most famous detective never really existed, he has lived in the minds and hearts of all those who know of his great adventures. Sherlock Holmes was created by Arthur Conan Doyle and first introduced to the world in 1887, when the author published “A Study in Scarlet.” From that initial story to the present, Sherlock has captivated the minds of the public. Interestingly, some say the famous detective received his first name courtesy of one Alfred Sherlock, a famous violinist of Conan Doyle’s day and his last name from physician, poet and writer Oliver Wendell Holmes. From this point on Conan Doyle would struggle between being known for what he considered to be his more important works and for the general public being obsessed with the adventures of Sherlock Holmes.

Dr. Watson and Sherlock Holmes as depicted by Sidney Paget

"My dear Watson," said he, "I cannot agree with those who rank modesty among the virtues. To the logician all things should be seen exactly as they are, and to underestimate one's self is as much a departure from truth as to exaggerate one's own powers.” –Sherlock Holmes, in "The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter" In 1890, the second Sherlock Holmes story, “The Sign of Four” was published. The first Sherlock Holmes adventure that brought about the collaboration between Conan Doyle and The Strand magazine, “A Scandal in Bohemia” was published in July, 1891. Between “A Scandal in Bohemia” and 1983, Conan Doyle wrote over twenty Sherlock Holmes stories. By 1893, Conan Doyle had tired of his fictional detective and wished to cease creating new Sherlock Holmes stories. During a visit that same year to Switzerland, Conan Doyle encountered Reichenbach Falls and became determined to use that spot to end his hero’s life. For this purpose, he introduced Sherlock Holmes' arch-nemesis, Professor Moriarty in a short story entitled “The Final Problem,” which was published in The Strand in December, 1893. Sherlock Holmes and In the story, both Sherlock Holmes and Professor Moriarty fall to Professor Moriarty at Reichenback Falls

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HOLMES

their deaths from Reichenbach Falls. The public was outraged and some accounts have 20,000 people canceling their subscription to the magazine in protest. People even wore black arm bands in the streets as a sign of protest and mourning for the great detective. "My mind," he said, "rebels at stagnation. Give me problems, give me work, give me the most abstruse cryptogram or the most intricate analysis, and I am in my own proper atmosphere. I can dispense then with artificial stimulants. But I abhor the dull routine of existence. I crave for mental exaltation." —Sherlock Holmes, in "The Sign of the Four" Conan Doyle held firm for eight years, not publishing any new Sherlock Holmes stories until The Hound of the Baskervilles in 1901. Technically, The Hound of the Baskervilles is set before Sherlock’s demise at Reichenbach Falls, so the public was not wholly satisfied with the appearance of a new story, as it did not indicate that their favorite detective was still alive and well. Holmesians often refer to the period between 1893 and 1901 as “The Great Hiatus” due to the lack of any new Sherlock Holmes adventures during the period. Sherlock Holmes officially returned from the dead in “The Adventure of the Empty House” published in 1903. Apparently the First edition of “The House public’s reactions to his attempts to quit writing of the Baskervilles” Sherlock Holmes had taught Conan Doyle that the public appetite for his detective would never be satiated (that or the publisher’s offers of financial compensation were just too tempting). For the next twenty five years, he continued to write of Holmes’ adventures, with his final Sherlock Holmes story, “The Adventure of Shoscombe Old Place” published in 1927, three years before his death in 1930 from heart disease. Because Conan Doyle never wrote of Sherlock Holmes actual death (except that one misunderstanding at Reichenbach Falls). Thus Sherlock Holmes, the world’s most famous and greatest detective, who First edition of The Return of never actually lived, lives on forever in the Sherlock Holmes hearts and minds of generations of fans the world over.

Sherlock Holmes

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“The friends of Mr. Sherlock Holmes will be glad to learn that he is still alive and well, though somewhat crippled by occasional attacks of rheumatism. He has, for many years, lived in a small farm upon the downs five miles from Eastbourne, where his time is divided between philosophy and agriculture. During this period of rest he has refused the most princely offers to take up various cases, having determined that his retirement was a permanent one.” –From the preface to the collection His Last Bow. Play Guide

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HOLMES

Adaptations of Sherlock Holmes Sherlock Holmes holds the Guinness Book of World Records honor of being listed as “the most-portrayed movie character of all time” as more than 70 actors have portrayed Sherlock in over 200 movies. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in crime. – From "A Scandal in Bohemia"

Prior to the advent of film, the most iconic Sherlock Holmes was William Gillette, ironically an American actor who proved immensely popular in a stage adaptation about the detective titled Sherlock Holmes in 1899. Gillette is often credited with creating the image of Sherlock Holmes with the curved pipe (according to some sources because it was easier to speak his lines with a curved pipe and according to others so his face would be more Actor William Gillette in visible to the audience though neither is a definitive answer). He his immensely popular is also sometimes credited with having first uttered the famous production starring as Sherlock Holmes quip, “Elementary, my dear Watson,” though Sherlock Holmes this contention is certainly open to debate. The exact person who created the phrase will probably never be 100% certain; all that is known for sure is that the phrase appears nowhere in the original canon by Arthur Conan Doyle. The closest written phrase is from Doyle's “The Crooked Man”: “Excellent!” I cried. “Elementary!”, said he.

The phrase “Elementary! My Dear Watson!” does not appear ANYWHERE in the original Sir Arthur Conan Doyle canon! The closest written phrase is from Doyle's The Crooked Man: “Excellent!” I cried. “Elementary!”, said he. Actor Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes

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HOLMES

Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce mark perhaps the most famous pairing of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, respectively, of the twentieth century. The two starred in fourteen movies over twenty years together as the famous pair, along with a large number of radio plays. Other versions of the great detective include a 1954 American television series, a 1965 musical titled Baker Street, and a 1970 Billy Wilder directed film titled The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes. Jeremy Brett’s portrayal of Sherlock Holmes both on stage and television received much public attention from 1984-1994; the actor devoted himself to trying to be the best Sherlock Holmes the world had ever seen. Between 1979 and 1986, Vasily Livanov played Holmes in a series of madefor-television films broadcast by Soviet television.

A statue of Holmes and Watson in the British Embassy in Russia

"Eliminate all other factors, and the one which remains must be the truth.” —Sherlock Holmes, in "The Sign of the Four"

The two most famous recent Sherlock Holmes adaptations are the 2009 Guy Ritchie-directed film Sherlock Holmes starring Robert Downey, Jr. and Jude Law as Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, respectively and the BBC One television series Sherlock starring The title image for the BBC’s Sherlock Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock Holmes. Whereas the Ritchie films maintain the original time period, the well-received modernization of Sherlock’s adventures is the focal point of Sherlock. Show creator Steven Moffat, stated, "Conan Doyle's stories were never about frock coats and gas light; they're about brilliant detection, dreadful villains and blood-curdling crimes – and frankly, to hell with the crinoline. Other detectives have cases, Sherlock Holmes has adventures, and that's what matters."

"Conan Doyle's stories were never about frock coats and gas light; they're about brilliant detection, dreadful villains and blood-curdling crimes … Other detectives have cases, Sherlock Holmes has adventures, and that's what matters." – Steven Moffat, creator of Sherlock

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The Canon

HOLMES

The Canon is made up of the Sherlock Holmes stories actually written by Arthur Conan Doyle. Sherlock Holmes appeared in a total of 60 stories published between 1887 and 1927. Generally, the Canon is also thought to include two prefaces written by Arthur Conan Doyle. A Study in Scarlet (novel, 1887) The Sign of the Four (novel, 1890) The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes A Scandal in Bohemia, 1891 The Red-headed League, 1891 A Case of Identity, 1891 The Boscombe Valley Mystery, 1891 The Five Orange Pips, 1891 The Man with the Twisted Lip, 1891 The Blue Carbuncle, 1892 The Speckled Band, 1892 The Engineer's Thumb, 1892 The Noble Bachelor, 1892 The Beryl Coronet, 1892 The Copper Beeches, 1892

Scenic rendering by designer Jon Ezell

The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes Silver Blaze, 1892 The Yellow Face, 1893 The Stock-broker's Clerk, 1893 The 'Gloria Scott', 1893 The Musgrave Ritual, 1893 The Reigate Squires, 1893 The Crooked Man, 1893 The Resident Patient, 1893 The Greek Interpreter, 1893 The Naval Treaty, 1893 The Final Problem, 1893 The Hound of the Baskervilles (novel, 1901-02)

Sherlock Holmes officially returned from the dead in “The Empty House” published in 1903.

Actor Mark Anders who plays Mr. Williams and Mr. Roundy

Actor Celeste Ciulla who plays The Club Secretary

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The Return of Sherlock Holmes The Empty House, 1903 The Norwood Builder, 1903 The Dancing Men, 1903 The Solitary Cyclist, 1903 The Priory School, 1904 Black Peter, 1904 Charles Augustus Milverton, 1904 The Six Napoleons, 1904 The Three Students, 1904 The Golden Pince-Nez, 1904 The Missing Three-Quarter, 1904 The Abbey Grange, 1904 The Second Stain, 1904

Costume rendering for Christiane by designer Matthew J. LeFebvre

The Valley of Fear (novel, 1914-15) His Last Bow Wisteria Lodge, 1908 The Cardboard Box, 1893 The Red Circle, 1911 The Bruce-Partington Plans, 1908 The Dying Detective, 1913 Lady Frances Carfax, 1911 The Devil's Foot, 1910 His Last Bow, 1917 Actor Maedell Dixon who plays Mrs. Hudson, Lucy O’Mally and others

Costume rendering for Mr. Williams by designer Matthew J. LeFebvre

The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes The Illustrious Client, 1924 The Blanched Soldier, 1926 The Mazarin Stone, 1921 The Three Gables, 1926 The Sussex Vampire, 1924 The Three Garridebs, 1924 Thor Bridge, 1922 The Creeping Man, 1923 The Lion's Mane, 1926 The Veiled Lodger, 1927 Shoscombe Old Place, 1927 The Retired Colourman, 1926 Costume rendering for The Club Secretary by designer Matthew J. LeFebvre

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"Education never ends, Watson. It is a series of lessons with the greatest for the last.” – Sherlock Holmes, in "The Adventure of the Red Circle"

Fun With Sherlock Holmes Sherlock’s Tent Sherlock Holmes and Mr. Watson went on a camping trip. After a good meal and a bottle of wine they lay down in their tent for the night and went to sleep. Some hours later, Holmes awoke and nudged his faithful friend awake. "Watson, look up at the sky and tell me what you see." Watson replied, "I see millions and millions of stars." "What does that tell you?" Holmes questioned. Watson pondered for a minute. "Astronomically, it tells me that there are millions of galaxies and potentially billions of planets. Astrologically, I observe Saturn is in Leo. Logically, I deduce that the time is approximately a quarter past three. Theologically, I can see that God is allpowerful and that we are small and insignificant. Meteorologically, I suspect that we will have a beautiful day tomorrow.” "Is that all?," Holmes asked. "Yes." Watson replied. "Why, am I missing something?" Holmes was quiet for a moment, then spoke: "Watson, you fool. Someone has stolen the tent."

ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE “All things find their level, but I believe that if I had never touched Holmes, who has tended to obscure my higher work, my position in literature would at the present moment be a more commanding one.” – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: Memories and Adventures

It is ironic that the man who would be forever known as the creator of Sherlock Holmes would have much preferred to have been known for his other work. This wish was never to be achieved, and Arthur Conan Doyle’s name will be forever impossibly entwined with that of his great detective, Sherlock Holmes. So who was Arthur Conan Doyle?

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DOYLE

Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle was born to parents Charles Altamont Doyle and Mary Doyle on May 22, 1859 in Edinburgh, Scotland. Arthur was one of a total of ten children born to his parents (though only seven survived into adulthood). Arthur’s love of stories began at an early age, influenced by a mother with a love of books and of history. Later in life, Conan Doyle himself wrote affectionately of his mother: “In my early childhood, as far as I can remember anything at all, the vivid stories she would tell me stand out so clearly that they obscure the real facts of my life.” Perhaps some of Conan Doyle’s love of disappearing into stories came from a troubled home life. Conan Doyle’s father Charles was unmotivated in his job as a civil servant and often displayed erratic behavior. At the age of nine, also Conan Doyle escaped the tension of his family home, but it was not a joyful occasion as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Conan Doyle found himself at a Jesuit boarding school in England that he loathed. At the time, corporal punishment, or punishment applied to the body of the offender as in spanking or hitting knuckles with rulers, was prevalent in many schools at this time, including Conan Doyle’s. Conan Doyle found himself stuck at this school for seven years, during which time his father was institutionalized due to alcoholism that aggravated his epilepsy. Charles Doyle would die in an asylum in 1893. “People have often asked me whether I knew the end of a Holmes story before I started it. Of course I did. One could not possibly steer a course if one did not know one’s destination” –Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: Memories and Adventures

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and his family in Anerica in 1922

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In 1876, Conan Doyle graduated from Jesuit school at the age of seventeen and decided to pursue a career in medicine. Conan Doyle attended the University of Edinburgh Medical School. Interestingly, while at school, Conan Doyle met future famous authors Robert Louis Stevenson and James Barrie (with whom he would have a close friendship for many years). However, for fans of Conan Doyle’s creation of Sherlock Holmes, the most important person Conan Doyle met at school was a doctor named Dr. Joseph Bell, who would serve in many ways as the model for Sherlock Holmes. In everything, Dr. Bell stressed 13

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the importance of observation and the use of logic just as Sherlock Holmes would in Conan Doyle’s stories.

DOYLE

During a break from school, Conan Doyle went on an expedition to Greenland, which he claimed “awakened the soul of a born wanderer.” In 1881, Conan Doyle received his Bachelor of Medicine and Master of Surgery and he became the medical officer on a ship bound for Africa. Finding this duty not to his liking, Conan Doyle then set up a private practice in Portsmouth. In all this time, Conan Doyle’s love for writing and stories had never waned and he found himself pulled between being a full-time doctor and being a full-time writer. However, in 1885, he did decide to also become a full-time husband when he married Louisa Hawkins who he described as “gentle and amiable.” In Arthur Conan Doyle’s study near 1887, Conan Doyle published A Study in Scarlet, the story Groombridge that introduced Sherlock Holmes to the world, and changed Conan Doyle’s life forever. From this point on Conan Doyle would struggle between being known for what he considered to be his more important works and for the general public being obsessed with the adventures of Sherlock Holmes. For several years, Conan Doyle attempted to be both a writer and a doctor. During this time period his first child; Mary was born, and in 1890 his second Sherlock Holmes story, "The Sign of Four" was published. Following the writing of Sherlock’s second adventure, Conan Doyle focused on a historical novel entitled The White Company before turning to the first Sherlock Holmes adventure that would bring about the collaboration between Conan Doyle and The Strand magazine, “A Scandal in Bohemia” in July, 1891. Conan Doyle’s second child, Arthur Allyne Kingsley Doyle was born in 1892. The Holmes stories continued to be immensely popular with the public, so much so that Conan Doyle began to feel that they took his attention away from more important topics. In 1893, Conan Doyle visited Switzerland and saw Reichenbach Falls, the spot that he decided he would end his hero’s life. In December, 1893, The Strand published “The Final Problem” in which Sherlock Holmes and Professor Moriarty fall to their deaths. The public was outraged and some accounts have 20,000 people canceling their subscription to the magazine in protest. People even wore black arm bands in the streets as a sign of protest and mourning for the great detective. "I think of slaying Holmes in the sixth & winding him up for good & all. He takes my mind from better things." – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

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DOYLE

By this time, Conan Doyle’s wife had been diagnosed with tuberculosis and required all of his attention and energy. Perhaps partially due to being so close to mortality, Conan Doyle developed an interest in Spiritualism, a movement which developed in the 18th and 19th centuries, and which holds that the soul survives bodily death, and that the living can communicate with the spirits of the deceased. In 1894, The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes was published and Conan Doyle began a lecture tour of the United States which proved immensely popular. In 1895, in an attempt to improve Louisa’s health, the couple traveled to Egypt. While there, a war broke out and Conan Doyle served as an honorary war correspondent. Upon returning to England, Conan Doyle wrote his most famous novels, Rodney Stone, A Duet with an Occasional Chorus, and Uncle Bernac. In 1899, Conan Doyle wrote a draft of a play version of Sherlock Holmes that, after much editing was completed by American actor William Gillette; the play opened in England in 1901. Audiences loved it. Conan Doyle claimed that William Gillette sent him a telegram asking if he could have Holmes marry in a play; he claimed to have responded back: “You may marry him or murder him or do whatever you like with him." In 1900, as England was involved in the Boer War in Africa, Conan Doyle decided he wanted to do his duty and serve his country. Over forty years old and unfit to serve as an enlisted man, Conan Doyle volunteered to be a doctor. During his time in Africa, Conan Doyle watched many people die of typhoid fever. Upon returning to England and to the delight of Sherlock fans, he wrote The Hound of the Baskervilles in 1901 and The War in South Africa: Its Causes and Conduct in 1902. A well-written military piece, the latter also analyzed failings on the British side; it was for the latter publication that Conan Doyle received his knighthood. Conan Doyle also turned to politics during this point in his life, twice running for Parliament, though he was defeated both times. Louise died in 1906 and Conan Doyle married Jean Leckie in 1907. Though the couple had known each other for nine years and had reportedly loved each other for most of that time, the general consensus is that Conan Doyle and Leckie had a platonic relationship throughout the illness and death of his first wife. They also had three children together, Denis Percy Stewart Conan Doyle, Adrian Malcom and Lena Jean Annette. Sadly, Conan Doyle lost his eldest son, Kingsley, in World War I, a loss that only increased his devotion to Spiritualism as he became president of various Spiritualist organizations. “I do not wish to be ungrateful to Holmes, who has been a good friend to me in many ways. If I have sometimes been inclined to weary of him it is because his character admits of no light or shade. He is a calculating machine, and anything you add to that simply weakens the effect.” – Arthur Conan Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: Memories and Adventures

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In 1912, Conan Doyle published The Lost World and in 1915, he began the enormous task of writing a history of The British Campaign in France and Flanders, a sixvolume work he completed five years later. Most of Conan Doyle’s late life work was focused on Spiritualism and promoting and teaching its philosophies. In 1927, he published his last Sherlock Holmes story. On July 7th, 1930, the multi-talented writer, doctor, philosopher and war historian died from heart disease in Sussex.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s grave

THE PLAYWRIGHT Jeffrey Hatcher is the author of Ten Chimneys, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Ella and co-author of Work Song: Three Views of Frank Lloyd Wright and Tuesdays with Morrie – all of which have been seen on Arizona Theatre Company’s stages. Mr. Hatcher authored the book for the Broadway musical, Never Gonna Dance. Off-Broadway, he has had several plays produced, including Three Viewings and A Picasso at Manhattan Theatre Club, Scotland Road and The Turn of the Screw at Primary Stages, Tuesdays with Morrie (with Mitch Albom) at Minetta Lane Theatre, Murder by Poe and The Turn of the Screw with The Acting Company, Neddy at The American Place Theatre and Fellow Travelers at Manhattan Playwright Jeffrey Hatcher Punchline. His plays – among them, Compleat Female Stage Beauty, Mrs. Mannerly, Murderers, Mercy of a Storm, Smash Armadale, Korczak's Children, To Fool the Eye, The Falls, A Piece of the Rope, All the Way with LBJ, The Government Inspector, and Work Song (with Eric Simonson) – have been seen at such theatres as Yale Repertory Theatre, The Old Globe, South Coast Repertory, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Intiman Theatre, Florida Stage, The Empty Space, California Theatre Center, Madison Repertory Theatre, Illusion Theater, Denver Center Theatre Company, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Philadelphia Theatre Company, Coconut Grove Playhouse, Asolo Repertory Theatre, City Theatre, Studio Arena Theatre and dozens more in the U.S. and abroad. Mr. Hatcher wrote the screenplays for Stage Beauty, The Duchess and Casanova, as well as authoring episodes of the Peter Falk series Columbo. He is a member and/or alumnus of The Playwrights’ Center, The Dramatists Guild of America, Writers Guild of America and New Dramatists. Arizona Theatre Company

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INTERVIEW

INTERVIEW WITH DAVID AND JEFFREY ATC Literary Manager Jennifer Bazzell sat down with playwright Jeffrey Hatcher and ATC Artistic Director and director of SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE ADVENTURE OF THE SUICIDE CLUB just a matter of days before rehearsals kicked off for this world premiere production. Read on to find out how the idea for the play began, information about the casting process and how Jeffrey’s days on Columbo helped prepare him to write a Sherlock Holmes mystery. Jenny Bazzell: The title of the play is SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE ADVENTURE OF THE SUICIDE CLUB. Since there isn’t a story in the Arthur Conan Doyle canon with this title, how did the idea for this play begin? David, did you approach Jeffrey, or vice versa? And what’s a suicide club? David Goldstein: It’s a fun story about how we came to the idea of doing a Sherlock Holmes play. I was visiting family in Minneapolis and Jeffrey and I went to see a different Sherlock Holmes play. At intermission Jeffrey was poking holes in the logic of this play, since of course a Sherlock Holmes play has to have airtight logic. He said something like, “Well I can write a better Sherlock Holmes play than anyone.” And I said, “Prove it.” And here we are ten months later and we’ll see what comes of it. Jeffrey Hatcher: As far as the Suicide Club, there’s a Robert Louis Stevenson novella called The Suicide Club which has actually been adapted a good many times, though I think only once for the stage. I finally tracked that down, it was on Broadway in the 1920s for something like 13 performances and had a title like Murder House.

Costume rendering for Mycroft Holmes by designer Matthew J. LeFebvre

DG: And of course it didn’t have anything to do with Sherlock Holmes as it was written in 1878, long before Arthur Conan Doyle invented Holmes. JH: But interesting enough, the original novella had an amateur detective in the guise of a character named Prince Florizel who was helped on his cases by his friend Colonel Geraldine. And it’s obviously another Holmes and Watson type pairing. At any rate, the idea of the Suicide Club was really cool and there are lots of wonderful details in the novella. I thought with major alterations it would be a very good setting and jumping off place for a Holmes piece.

Actor Roberto Guajardo who plays Mr. Henry

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JB: David, ATC produced another world premiere SHERLOCK HOLMES play a few years ago: SHERLOCK HOLMES: THE FINAL ADVENTURE by Steven Dietz. What was the appeal of doing another play about this character and what are the stylistic differences with this newer play, which is obviously by a different playwright? DG: We had a great time doing Steven Dietz’s SHERLOCK HOLMES: THE FINAL ADVENTURE. Our audiences loved it, the artists loved working on it, and it provided wonderful design opportunities. It has since gone on to be produced all over in literally hundreds of places. One of the great things Costume rendering for about mysteries - whether it’s Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Mrs. Hudson by designer Sayers, Arthur Conan Doyle or any of the great mystery writers Matthew J. LeFebvre - is that they write a series, not just one story. You get to know these characters and then you see them undertake different adventures. So we’ve always had in the back of our minds that maybe one day we’d do another Sherlock Holmes play since, at the end of SHERLOCK HOLMES: THE FINAL ADVENTURE we learn that Sherlock’s not dead and it’s not the final adventure. So the idea of tackling another brand new one a decade later was very appealing. What’s great is that when I got Jeffrey’s first draft of SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE ADVENTURE OF THE SUICIDE CLUB, I saw immediately that even though you still have Holmes and Watson, it’s a very different Sherlock Holmes play in style, tone, time period, production needs, and acting challenges. Steven Dietz’s Sherlock Holmes play was consciously very traditional – long scenes, four box sets. That was what Steven and I were aiming for and what I think we achieved. But I believe Jeffrey’s play has nearly forty scenes. It takes place all over London. It’s very cinematic. It’s about an older Sherlock Holmes. It’s edgier and darker, more of a thriller than the first Sherlock Holmes, which was in a lot of ways, delightful Victorian pastiche. This Sherlock Holmes brings him into the 20th century and also deals with some pertinent issues right now. So I was delighted that though we’re revisiting those characters, the context and the tone are quite different. Not necessarily better or worse, but different. JH: I very much wanted to do something that had a different theatrical feeling to it than Steven’s or a lot of the other plays - and there are a lot of Sherlock Holmes plays out there, some of them pastiche, some of them homage. But they do tend to follow the general theatrical ground plan of the William Gillette play written in 1899, which is really great, but it’s kind of stuck in these stage techniques that were available a hundred years ago. So when we were talking about the idea that we could make the play move quickly and have lots of locations and not be held down with the set requirements, those things seemed really interesting. A Sherlock Holmes that didn’t start with the scene with someone arriving at Baker Street and saying “Mr. Holmes I have a problem,” is a challenge but it’s also exciting and there are new ways into the story. One major thing hovering in this play is the idea that Holmes is a melancholic, he’s a depressive or what

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Actor David Green who plays Mr. Richards and Mycroft Holms

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we’d call either manic depressive or bipolar today. So it’s not unbelievable that you’d find a Holmes who is contemplating death; that he’d be thinking about suicide in one way or another. We play with it lightly, but it is touched upon that he’s the type of man easily prey to the darkest moods. And even though he does solve the crime eventually, there are certain things that are inexorable. We leave him in a strange and, I think “Holmesian” place. JB: Jeffrey, last season, your play TEN CHIMNEYS had its world premiere at Arizona Theatre Company. It dealt with real-life Costume rendering stage icons Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne. This time around, for Nicky by designer you’re dealing with even more iconic, albeit fictional, characters Matthew J. LeFebvre – Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. As a playwright, how do you navigate the waters of audience’s expectations of what a Sherlock Holmes story must include? JH: One thing to keep in mind is that there are two general but firm rules when it comes to obsession with Sherlock Holmes. One is a school of belief that Holmes was a fictional character and sometimes his author made mistakes of addresses, ages, dates and even names. All the irregularities and contradictions are lumped under, again, mistakes. There’s this one story where Conan Doyle has Watson referred to as James, rather than John, by his wife. And it’s like “Did you not have an editor that day? Was there no proofing?” That faction says yes, it’s just a mistake. The other faction treats Holmes and Watson as if they were real people and Conan Doyle was merely the literary executor or the intermediary. And this group tries to find ways to resolve the contradictions and make sense of them. They say there’s a reason why the wife would have called Watson ‘James’, or there’s a reason why addresses change and ages change. Sometimes they go into wild permutations and “Rosemary Woods-type” [President Richard Nixon’s secretary who claimed to have erased several minutes of Watergate tapes by accident] stretches to try to explain these contradictions. They try to make it into a whole world. Most people who come to see the play simply want to know “Will Holmes fit into their general view of him?” What they know from reading, from looking at the old Sidney Paget illustrations, from Basil Rathbone or Jeremy Brett or most recently Benedict Cumberbatch. There will be a smaller faction that will obsessively say it’s not possible that he did this, or that this person was in London on that date. And those people I don’t think I’ll be able to please fully, but I hope they’ll give us credit for putting together a crackling

Actor James Cada who plays Mr. George and Inspector Micklewhite

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good thriller with Holmesian-like touches.

INTERVIEW

One thing I did do is that I got a Kindle version of the complete stories so whenever I use a word and I wonder, “Would Holmes have used this word?,” I double check first the OED [Oxford English Dictionary] to make sure it was in use during Holmes ‘lifetime’ and then I do a search in the complete Holmes stories because I’m often surprised to find out the words that aren’t used and the words that are used. It sounds bizarre for Holmes to say “Thanks” instead of “Thank you,” but it’s there in the Conan Doyle [I went searching for Jeff’s reference and, of course, he’s exactly right. In The Sign of Four Holmes says “Thanks.”] This is my first journey into the land of Kindle and it’s really cool to be able to search a huge text that way, otherwise it’s a researcher’s nightmare.

Costume rendering for Mr. Henry by designer Matthew J. LeFebvre

JB: This SHERLOCK HOLMES is Edwardian rather than Victorian. Does the later time 1913 period have any impact on the way in which Holmes is presented? DG: It certainly does from a design standpoint. You’re into a world where airplanes and cars exist. But you’re also into a pre-war Europe which is very germane to the heart of this story. The fact that World War I is fast approaching becomes a major strain in the story. Placing it later also allows Holmes and Watson to have really established a way of working and talking together that’s well-trod. And I do think that pre-World War I era becomes really important in the story…but I can’t say more! JH: All of that is quite true. This technology, machinery, greed, madness, everything has accelerated from the world of gas-lit London and hansom cabs. That’s not to say that men aren’t still putting on top hats and getting into hansom cabs, just that they also have available to them telephones and cars as they choose. Although, interestingly enough there is only one Sherlock Holmes story where he makes reference to using the telephone. Yet Conan Doyle wrote Sherlock Holmes stories almost all the way up until his death in 1930, setting Holmes stories all the way from the Edwardian period through World War I. So a lot of things that were available to Holmes, Conan Doyle chose not to let Holmes use, maybe for the sake of the stories. Costume rendering for Inspector Mickelwhite by designer Matthew J. LeFebvre

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Actor Connor Kesserling who plays A Constable

At one point I had in the script a reference to someone using a phone to call down to the lobby of a hotel, and that got cut along the way. It was cut for plot reasons, but I think it’s fairly good it’s not there anyway because some audience members would have a jarring feeling if they suddenly saw Holmes pick up a phone. But for example if you look at all the Basil Rathbone films from the 40s, only two of them are set in the Victorian era, the bulk of then, maybe ten, are set during World War II, and he’s always hopping into cars and planes. And he’s trying to defeat the Nazis. I think only once or twice do you see a deerstalker poke up in that era. DG: Jeffrey, it just struck me that we don’t have a deerstalker.

JH: Yeah, I know. DG: Well, should we? JH: We could have it hanging off an antler or something in his room. JB: Well, that’s not Conan Doyle anyway, is it, the deerstalker cap? JH: No. One of the peculiarities of that image is that Holmes would have worn the deerstalker only when he was out of town. But you seem to find examples where it’s almost like it’s a contractual rule, “Get the Inverness cape and the deerstalker!” But that would be a little bit like wearing your big green boots around a hotel lobby. He just wouldn’t do that. But I certainly have no objection to trying to sneak one in as part of the set accoutrement.

Actor Chrissy Tolley who plays A Lady Journalist

JB: David, there are many ATC favorites in the cast including Remi Sandri as Sherlock Holmes (who has appeared at ATC in Much Ado About Nothing, Pride and Prejudice and The Kite Runner), Jeff Steitzer (who appeared in Much Ado About Nothing, Twelfth Night, and others), Mark Anders (who appeared in Two Pianos, Four Hands and Oh Coward!), and Roberto Guajardo (who has appeared in Molly’s Delicious, To Kill a Mockingbird , Macbeth, and many others). How did you go about compiling this stellar cast and looking for actors who would be able to both portray the Doyle-created characters as well as the Hatcher-created characters?

DG: Especially when you’re working on a new play you need to know that you have actors who you can really trust to collaborate, not just as an acting ensemble but with the

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Costume rendering for Mr. Richards by designer Matthew J. LeFebvre

playwright and the director to create something brand new. And they have to be able to swing with rewrites and changes without fear. You often do want to go to your rolodex and find people that you know have done that sort of thing. I’d say this is the best play ever written for “folic-ally challenged” actors. It’s all about character actors in their 50s and 60s: people like Sapo and Jeff Steitzer and others. So we really started with our address books. The Club Secretary, a really marvelous conceit that Jeffrey has created, is a woman who runs the Suicide Club and has some dark secrets, a Marlene Dietrich-type, and is being played by Celeste Ciulla, an actress who played Lady Macbeth for us, which is kind of wonderful to think about. So we started from there and then of course did auditions in Tucson and Phoenix and got other wonderful actors.

We also had a couple of readings of the play, one in Minneapolis/St. Paul where Jeffrey lives and one in Chicago at Northlight Theatre. We found some actors out of those readings as well. And of course we’re using a number of wonderful actors we love here in Arizona including Maedell Dixon, who’s had a long history with us. We have three talented University of Arizona theatre students through our relationship with the theatre department. It’s a bit of a hodgepodge, as always. We generally don’t do the “We’ll go to New York or LA and have to get a casting director and have a day of auditions and cast the play.” A lot of the relationships between me and the actors and between Jeffrey and the actors are longstanding. For instance, Jeff, you’ve worked with Mark Anders a lot over the years and he’s worked here at Arizona Theatre Company a couple of times. JH: Mark has been a favorite of mine for almost twenty years. For me, he’s almost always playing English fellows who look like they would be very at home on the tennis court or a ship’s cruise and then end up with a knife in their back. He’s a wonderful verbal actor and has a great look; I adore Mark. We have a couple of actors who used to be roommates and a couple of actors who are stepfather and stepson. We think that’s a plus but it could turn out in some horrible way that we hadn’t imagined. It could turn into a murder mystery of its own! [Laughter.] For a new play like this, it’s cool to say I know these people, I know what they can do. And I think it’s good to have a mix of known and unknown because you don’t want it to be nothing but old home week where people feel left out. So I think it’s a good mix with people who know each other and people who are new. JB: Jeffrey, were you already a fan of Sherlock Holmes prior to writing this play, or are you a recent convert?

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Actor Karl Hussey who plays Hotel Clerk

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JH: Oh no, no, I’ve always loved Sherlock Holmes. I’ve had the complete works since I was nine years old. The old William S. Baring-Gould [an important Sherlock Holmes scholar] double volume of the Annotated Sherlock Holmes. I always have been a fan. Although I’m not a Holmes “nutcase,” to put that nicely. I’m not an aficionado in a way that lots of people who might come to the show will be. I don’t want to get things wildly wrong but at the same time I don’t want to obsess about “What the buttons would look like?” I tend to think that that gets in the way of fleshing things out. But I adore Holmes. And I’m always taken by the fact that he can be re-imagined by different actors over time. I always thought Basil Rathbone was the greatest and Costume rendering for then Jeremy Brett popped up and he was great in a different Mr. Richards by designer way – neurotic and strange. And then he died and then Benedict Matthew j. LeFebvre Cumberbatch pops up and he’s fascinating. I haven’t seen the Robert Downey one, I have to admit. My sense is they’re trying too hard to not make him like any of the ones we’ve seen before. If that’s the case then hire, I don’t know, Tom Arnold. [Laughter.] JB: And David, were you a fan too? I know you directed the previous Sherlock Holmes play that ATC produced, but have you been a fan for a long time? DG: Like Jeffrey as a teenager I certainly read all the stories. And then through doing Steven Dietz’s play I became more of a fan and began seeing why Holmes above all the other fictional detectives has had such a deep and lasting impact on our culture. Something that I kept coming back to when I was directing the last Sherlock Holmes play is that Conan Doyle created one very complete person and then he split the mind from the heart - and the heart became Dr. Watson and the mind became Sherlock Holmes. And there’s something ever fascinating about that in the same way that Dr. Frankenstein created his creature and Dr. Frankenstein is all brain and the creature is all heart. Or the same with Jekyll and Hyde. There’s an abiding interest – especially prevalent in the 19th Century - in the bifurcated nature of being a human being. And together they become one super human. You can’t imagine Sherlock without Watson and you can’t imagine Watson without Holmes. JB: Any great questions I’ve forgotten to ask? DG: I had a question for Jeff. The great Peter Falk recently passed away and I know you worked on Columbo with him and wrote some of those scripts. When you do a play, people think of you as a playwright, but you’re also a wonderful screenwriter. So I wondered if working on Columbo influenced you in creating this play? JH: Very much so. A couple of those clues that pop up in this play are clues that I

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thought up for Columbo a long time ago. Peter was vaguely casting around for what would be a good final Columbo. And I did up a script for him and it included at least two of the clues (I don’t think more than two), that are in the show. And you know, it’s funny, kind of like jokes, if you write a joke, or a bit, or a clue for a script that doesn’t end up being produced. sometimes those jokes and clues and things just die with the show, they end up getting sealed away. But it was really great to realize that I could use a couple of them here, without straining credulity too much. JB: Anything else ATC’s audiences should know before they head into the theatre to see this exciting world premiere? JH: David mentioned thematically that idea of the mind and heart separated, and I don’t think I’ve ever put it in those terms, but I think he’s quite right. What’s interesting too is that those examples pop up in more often in adaptations than in the stories themselves. You have these moments when Watson proves to Holmes that he’s a bit more of a mind than Holmes would think. Or one time when Holmes talks poetically about a rose and it’s the only time he ever talks that way in all the stories and Watson is sort of taken aback. DG: It’s sort of like seeing Mr. Spock shed a tear. JH: Yes, the affection the two of them share with one another that even gets them into trouble at one point in this play.

ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON AND THE SUICIDE CLUB “No man is any use until he has dared everything.” Robert Louis Stevenson Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson was born to a respectable, middle-class Edinburgh family on November 13, 1850. His father, Thomas Stevenson, was a lighthouse engineer, the heir of a long family tradition of civil and marine engineering. His mother, Margaret, was the daughter of a Presbyterian minister, Lewis Balfour, after whom she named her only son. Louis, as his family came to call him, had a somewhat lonely childhood. He had inherited his mother’s tendency toward ill health, which prevented him from attending school regularly. As a boy, he was attended by his devoted mother and his nurse, Alison Cunningham, whom he called “Cummy.” From her, even more than from his parents, he acquired a strong sense of Calvinism, a type of Protestantism that included strong beliefs in sin, evil, and the works of the devil. This Calvinistic upbringing influenced many of his later works. Arizona Theatre Company Play Guide

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STEVENSON

“From the whole tone of the young man’s statement it was plain that he harboured very bitter and contemptuous thoughts about himself. His auditors were led to imagine that his love affair was nearer his heart than he admitted, and that he had a design on his own life. The farce of the cream tarts began to have very much the air of a tragedy in disguise.” From Robert Louis Stevenson’s “The Suicide Club”

Robert Louis Stevenson

Stevenson’s earliest literary influences included stories from the Old Testament, John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, and pious verses that told the story of Scotland’s religious and historical feuds. He learned to read for himself at age seven and began to peruse his father’s library for reading material. His favorite books as a child were travel narratives and adventure novels, including Rob Roy, Guy Mannering, The Voyages of Captain Woodes Rogers, and the Arabian Nights Entertainments, among others. At age 17, Stevenson entered Edinburgh University to study science. His family assumed that he would follow in his father’s career footsteps and become an engineer; however, it soon became apparent that his interests and personality were imaginative and literary, rather than practical and scientific. At age 21, he confided to his father that he had no desire to become an engineer and wanted to try his hand at writing instead. Although his parents were disappointed, they reached a compromise: Stevenson would read for the Bar, so that if his literary ambitions came to nothing, he would be able to fall back on the law as a respectable profession. As a young man in Edinburgh, Stevenson lived in two worlds: the formal propriety of his parents’ neighborhood in New Town, and the seedy, bohemian world of Leith Walk and Lothian Road. He frequently visited both the alehouses and the brothels of Old Town in his days as a student, earning himself the nickname “Velvet Coat” among the ladies of some of his favorite establishments. He found both happiness and freedom in the bohemian world; he saw it as more honest and less hypocritical than the conventional world in which he was raised. Stevenson’s life experiences and vastly expanded reading during these years caused him to doubt his parents’ dogmatic religious views. The issue came to a head in 1873, when Stevenson revealed his agnosticism to his father. The resulting argument strained their relationship for years afterward.

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STEVENSON

Stevenson’s literary career began in the fall of that year. He had taken ill with nervous exhaustion, and his doctors ordered him to take a prolonged rest abroad. He spent six months convalescing at Mentone, in the South of France, where he wrote essays, fables, and short stories. Some of these early works include an essay on Edgar Allen Poe and a short story entitled “When the Devil was Well.” He also wrote journalistic pieces that appeared in the Cornhill Magazine and the Fortnightly Review. From 1875 to 1876, Stevenson spent much of his time at Fontainebleau, where his cousin was a member of an informal artist colony. There he met Mrs. Fanny Vandegrift Osbourne, an American traveling in Europe with her two children. She was estranged from her husband, and though she was ten years Robert Louis Stevenson at age seven. older than Stevenson, the two were powerfully attracted to each other. Their relationship escalated for several years through correspondence and periodic meetings at Fontainebleau. In 1878, Fanny returned to California to seek a divorce from her husband. Worried about reports of her ill health, Stevenson followed her across the Atlantic traveling from Scotland to Monterey. The stress of the long journey nearly killed Stevenson, and it took Fanny several weeks to nurse him back to health. The two were married in San Francisco in May of 1880. “’How?’ cried the young man. ‘Are you, too, ruined? Is this supper a folly like my cream tarts? Has the devil brought three of his own together for a last carouse?’” – From Robert Louis Stevenson’s “The Suicide Club”

Fanny Osbourne, Robert Louis Stevenson's wife

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During this period, Stevenson’s writing career began to flourish. He published his first book in April 1878. The book, entitled An Inland Voyage, detailed a canoeing holiday he had taken along the rivers and canals of Belgium. He published a second travel book, Travels with a Donkey, in 1879. He also wrote a great many short stories and essays, several of which would be collected in Virginbus Puerisque (1881) and New Arabian Nights (1882). Stevenson was quickly becoming a writer of note. His literary pieces earned him the respect of his contemporaries, including the American novelist Henry James, British poet Edmund Gosse, and countryman Andrew Lang. He also made a name for himself as a journalist in the late 1870s, with help from William Ernest Henley, who worked as an editor for many of England’s most respected periodicals. Henley and Stevenson also collaborated on several plays and were close friends until Stevenson’s marriage.

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Robert Louis Stevenson and household in Samoa c. 1890.

After marrying Fanny Osbourne, Stevenson spent most of the rest of his life in a constant search for a suitable climate. His trek across the United States and the return journey to Scotland with his bride exacerbated his delicate health, and he spent much of his time from 1880 to 1887 as a semi-invalid. His ill health did not, however, prevent him from writing. These years mark some of Stevenson’s finest writing achievements; Treasure Island was published in 1883 and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Kidnapped both appeared in 1886. This period also saw the publication of some of his most respected essays and short stories.

Stevenson’s father died in May of 1887. The two had reconciled some years before, and that relationship kept Stevenson and his new family in Scotland. Upon his father’s death, Stevenson no longer felt tied to the British Isles, so he and his family left for the United States. They lived for a year in New York State, where he wrote The Master of Ballantrae. In 1889, a newspaper magnate offered to fund a cruise of the Pacific in exchange for a series of letters from Stevenson that would be published in syndication in the U.S. Stevenson and his wife agreed to the voyage, and they traveled throughout the Pacific Islands until 1890. After more than a year of a nomadic, sea-faring life, Stevenson and his family settled in Samoa in January of 1890. He purchased a 300-acre property, where he would live out the last five years of his life. Although his responsibilities as patriarch to Fanny’s children and property owner were great, Stevenson’s writing continued to flourish. From 1890 to 1894, he wrote two novellas, two novels, several short stories, a history of the Stevenson family, and a summary of Samoan politics. He also began a number of novels that he never completed, including St. Ives, The Young Chevalier, and Heathercat. In 1892, he began what he anticipated to be his masterpiece, a novel entitled Weir of Hermiston. He worked enthusiastically on the novel until he died of a cerebral hemorrhage on December 3, 1894. He was buried at the summit of Mount Vaea. Stevenson was a consummate adventurer at heart; the final lines of his poem “Requiem,” which are engraved on his tombstone, reflect the peace at the end of his wanderlust: This be the verse you grave for me: Here he lies where he longed to be; Home is the sailor, home from the sea, And the hunter home from the hill.

The tomb of Robert Louis Stevenson in Samoa.

-written by Erin Treat, dramaturgical intern

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“Story of the Young Man with the Cream Tarts” from The Suicide Club “‘If you are truly tired of life, I will introduce you to-night to a meeting; and if not to-night, at least some time within the week, you will be easily relieved of your existences. It is now (consulting his watch) eleven; by half-past, at latest, we must leave this place; so that you have half-an-hour before you to consider my proposal. It is more serious than a cream tart,” he added, with a smile; “and I suspect more palatable.’” From Robert Louis Stevenson’s “The Suicide Club”

The Suicide Club by Robert Louis Stevenson was first published in 1878 in London Magazine in three installments. The Suicide Club is made up of three short stories: “Story of the Young Man with the Cream Tarts,” “Story of the Physician and the Saratoga Trunk,” and “The Adventure of the Hansom Cab.” Following their initial publication they were also collected and published in a single volume that Stevenson titled New Arabian Nights. Each of the three installments is a detective story (a very popular genre at the time). Playwright Jeffrey Hatcher used ”Story of the Young Man with the Cream Tarts” as an inspiration for this world premiere play. Combining Arthur Conan Doyle’s iconic characters with inspiration from Stevenson’s fascinating detective story, Hatcher envisions an entirely new adventure for the world’s most famous detective. Stevenson’s story tells of Prince Florizel of Bohemia and Colonel Geraldine. Set in Victorian London, the two men are frequenting an oyster bar when they encounter a young man with a tray of cream tarts. His demeanor and curious behavior with the tarts leads them to engage him in conversation, where he reveals the existence of and his participation in The Suicide Club, a group of men determined to end their lives but unable to actually do the deed themselves. Prince Florizel and Colonel Geraldine determine to infiltrate this club and immediately attend a meeting. At the meeting they discover that The Suicide Club is run by a deceptive president. The rules of the club become clear: one man is selected to die, another selected to play executioner through a dealing of cards. Prince Florizel and Colonel Geraldine escape the first meeting without being selected as either killer or victim, but the next night

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Prince Florizel is not so lucky. He is selected as the evening’s intended victim. Only through the intervention of Colonel Geraldine is Prince Florizel spared and the two men bring down the president of the club. There are very interesting similarities between the world of Arthur Conan Doyle in his Sherlock Holmes stories and The Suicide Club stories by Robert Louis Stevenson. Because they belong to the same genre and were written in close proximity to one another, they have similar qualities. For instance:

Scenic design by Jon Ezell

• Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson are partners in solving mysteries. Prince Florizel and Colonel Geraldine share a similar relationship • Both deal with villainous characters that must be brought down for the good of society. • Both require their heroes to don disguises and infiltrate places where their true identity would cause them to face danger.

THE EDWARDIAN ERA

ERA

Famous Edwardian Authors: J. M. Barrie Arnold Bennett Joseph Conrad E. M. Forster Rudyard Kipling Edith Nesbit Beatrix Potter Lucy Maud Montgomery H. G. Wells P. G. Wodehouse W. Somerset Maugham And of course…Arthur Conan Doyle

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When Queen Victoria died in 1901, she had been on the English throne since 1837, the longest reign of a monarch in British history. The perspective of much of the population during Victoria’s day was that her reign was a peaceful and prosperous time for the British Empire. The sheer number of years of her reign and the era they encapsulate means that Britain was a very different place when she began her reign from when it ended. The population exploded during the Victorian Era as did the ways in which inventive minds dreamed of dealing with it. Industrial change was rampant including improved sanitation through King Edward construction of better sewer systems, factory systems of production, increased transportation routes (including expansive railway systems), as well as the introduction of new technologies such as cameras, telephones, and the

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ERA

light bulb. Of course, the Victorian era was also the time of worldwide colonial interests for Britain where many indigenous people were supplanted from their roles in their country’s self-governance and in which conditions for the working poor in Britain were appalling (see Charles Dickens' works). Despite the difficulties of the era, when Edward came to the throne on his mother’s death in 1901, he was in a very long shadow of a very successful monarch. Firsts from the Edwardian Era: Louis Blériot crosses the English Channel by air. The RMS Olympic, the world’s largest ship, has its maiden voyage. Roald Amundsen’s team becomes the first to reach Antarctica. The first Nobel Prizes are awarded. The first transatlantic signals are sent by Guglielmo Marconi. The Wright Brothers become the first people to fly in Kitty Hawk, NC . Edward was the polar opposite in temperament and personality from his mother. Whereas Victoria had always been a relatively strict individual, more likely to withdraw from society, Edward leaned toward rule breaking and basked in social interactions. It was following a salacious scandal between Prince Edward and an actress that Queen Victoria’s husband Prince Albert died, and widespread belief holds that the queen blamed her son for her husband’s death. Edward’s interests were polar opposites from his mother’s, who disapproved of his illegal card plays, yachting, theatre-going, and interest in horse racing (Victoria’s concern was that an elite class perceived by the lower classes as immoral would provoke rebellion). During his time as prince, his philandering and wanderlust caused A photograph from Prince him to symbolize the leisurely life of the fashionable elite of the Edward’s visit to Niagara Falls era. Edward loved to travel (he was the first member of the British monarchy to tour the United States). The differences in the two rulers’ personalities led to a difference in the societies in which they ruled. But after so many austere years of Victoria’s unrelenting policies toward behavior, some of the British population was ready for a change. King Edward worked toward alliances with other countries on the continent. He was popular with the French, where he developed the nickname “Peacemaker.” He also was very active in military affairs and foreign policy, both of which were of primary interest to Scenic design by Jon Ezell him. Unfortunately his relationship with his nephew, Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany, was hostile. King Edward died on May 6, 1910, so he never saw the world in which his nephew and England would face off in the trenches of World War I. Arizona Theatre Company

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ERA

What types of things were happening in the Edwardian Era in London?

Steeplechase from the 1908 Summer Olympics in London

In 1908 the Summer Olympics were held in London. The games were originally supposed to be hosted by Rome, but Mount Vesuvius’s eruption caused financial problems for the Italian state and thus they were moved to Britain. Because the move wasn’t made official until November of 1906, London only had eighteen months to prepare to host the large event. The White City, a brand new stadium located in west London, was built specifically for the 1908 Olympics.

THE BUILDUP TO WORLD WAR I

WWI

"Good old Watson! You are the one fixed point in a changing age. There's an east wind coming all the same, such a wind as never blew on England yet. It will be cold and bitter, Watson, and a good many of us may wither before its blast. But it's God's own wind none the less, and a cleaner, better, stronger land will lie in the sunshine when the storm has cleared. Start her up, Watson, for it's time that we were on our way. I have a check for five hundred pounds which should be cashed early, for the drawer is quite capable of stopping it if he can." – Sherlock Holmes, in the final paragraph of "His Last Bow" SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE ADVENTURE OF THE SUICIDE CLUB is set on the eve of World War I, which is also called “The Great War” and “The War to End All Wars.” While the July 28, 1914 assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary tends to be the “simple” presentation of the incident that sparked the war, the actual causes of the war continue to be debated by historians. The domino effect that caused World War I to escalate as it did goes back significantly farther when an extensive network of treaties between most of the nations of Europe was created. Almost 100 years after World War I began, questions still remain. As PBS’s website asks, “What caused World War I? Was it the desire for greater empire, wealth and territory? A massive arms race? The series of treaties which ensured that once one power went to war, all of Europe would quickly follow? Was it social turmoil and changing artistic sensibilities brought about by the Industrial Revolution? Or was it simply a miscalculation by rulers and generals in power?” The conclusion is that all of these factors played some role in escalating the war.

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WWI

“Europe was divided into two armed camps: the Entente Powers and the Central Powers, and their populations began to see war not merely as inevitable but even welcome.” – BBC History Society and industry in western civilization changed incalculably in the decades leading up to World War I. The advances in technology and industry in the second half of the nineteenth century changed the way day-to-day life was lived throughout the western world. The early twentieth century also brought social struggles such as suffrage laws for women and protection for workers to the forefront of public consciousness. Economies were expanding and social reformers were increasingly making demands. Tensions arising from social changes as well as economic struggles and ideological differences between countries in close proximity strained international relationships. Countries looked to protect their welfare from other global powers by aligning themselves through treaties with other countries. When determining allies, countries often looked for other nations that either shared some common ground ideologically, or that could offer some sort of military protection.

Clockwise from top: Trenches on the Western Front; a British Mark IV Tank crossing a trench; Royal Navy battleship HMS Irresistible sinking after striking a mine at the Battle of the Dardanelles; a Vickers machine gun crew with gas masks, and German Albatros D.III biplanes

“The Great War was without precedent ... never had so many nations taken up arms at a single time. Never had the battlefield been so vast… never had the fighting been so gruesome...” – PBS

The leaders of the major power players in world issues at this point had never seen a war like the one that was on the horizon. Most of them firmly believed that if war could not be completely avoided, at the very least any war would be of short duration. They significantly underestimated the effects that technological changes would have on fighting so they could not fully evaluate the situation their countries were actually facing. When the leaders were faced with decision-making following

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Archduke Franz Ferdinand

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WWI World War I UK soldiers in 1916

the assassination, dominos fell along treaty lines. Austria wanted to punish the Serbs for the assassination (as Serbian Gavrilo Princip was the assassin). Germany immediately backed their ally. Russia was allies with the Serbs and allied with Britain and France, thus beginning World War I. Lines were drawn and national governments saw the struggle as a matter of honor. All of Europe was soon enmeshed in a struggle between the Allied Powers (also called the Entente Power primarily Britain, France, Russia & eventually the U.S. in 1917) and the Central Powers (primarily Germany, AustriaHungary & Turkey) that would go on for over four years.

After the War By the time the war finally ended with the signing of the armistice on November 11, 1918, what would be known as the “lost generation” had forever been scarred by what they had seen. Britain’s participation in such a horrendous war forever changed the lives of the people who lived through it and those who would come after. Never before had the world seen a war as destructive as World War I; the combination of the sheer number of countries and soldiers involved coupled with the advances A German Uboat displayed by in machinery and weaponry created previously unheard of Tower Bridge in London following World War I amounts of damage to property as well as the destruction of millions of lives. Historians estimate that over 65 million men were mobilized to participate in World War I. Of these, it is estimated that roughly 9-10 million men were killed in the fighting and another 20 million men were wounded.

GLOSSARY OF TERMS Abattoir: Slaughterhouse. Abstruse: Difficult to comprehend. Alleviate: Relieve or lessen. Asphyxia: A lack of oxygen or excess of carbon dioxide in the body that results in unconsciousness and often death and is usually caused by interruption of breathing or inadequate oxygen supply. August: Marked by majestic dignity or grandeur.

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GLOSSARY

Concierge: A usually multilingual hotel staff member who handles luggage and mail, makes reservations, and arranges tours. Constable: A police officer (British). Conveyance: The action or process of transporting someone or something from one place to another.

A 1574 version of the Cyrillic Alphabet

Cryptogram: A text written in code or a symbol or figure with secret or occult significance.

Cyrillic Alphabet: Denoting the alphabet used by many Slavic peoples, chiefly those with a historical allegiance to the Orthodox Church, and used for Russian, Bulgarian, Serbian, and Ukrainian. Czar: An emperor of Russia before 1917. Despondent: In low spirits from loss of hope or courage. Diogenes Club: A fictional club created by Arthur Conan Doyle to which Mycroft Holmes belongs.

Russian leader Czar Nicholas, generally known as the last Czar of Russia

“There are many men in London, you know, who, some from shyness, some from misanthropy, have no wish for the company of their fellows. Yet they are not averse to comfortable chairs and the latest periodicals. It is for the convenience of these that the Diogenes Club was started, and it now contains the most unsociable and unclubable men in town. No member is permitted to take the least notice of any other one. Save in the Stranger’s Room, no talking is, under any circumstances, allowed, and three offences, if brought to the notice of the committee, render the talker liable to expulsion. My brother was one of the founders, and I have myself found it a very soothing atmosphere.” – Sherlock Holmes, in “The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter” Arizona Theatre Company

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Discern: Perceive, recognize or alternatively, to distinguish.

GLOSSARY

Discrepancy: A lack of compatibility or similarity between two or more facts. Dubious: Hesitating or doubting or not to be relied upon; suspect. Eros: The god of love, son of Aphrodite. Fortnight: A period of two weeks. Iron Maiden: An instrument of torture consisting of a coffin-shaped box lined with iron spikes. Various medieval torture devices with an iron maiden at right

Palette: A thin board or slab on which an artist lays and mixes colors or the range of colors used by a particular artist or in a particular picture.

Maelstrom: A powerful whirlpool in the sea or a river or a scene or state of confused and violent movement or upheaval. Melancholy: Deep sadness or gloom. Ministrations: The provision of assistance or the services of a minister of religion. Modus Operandi: A particular way or method of doing something, especially one that is characteristic or well-established. Outré: Out of the common course or limits; extravagant or bizarre. Physiognomy: A person’s facial features or expression, especially when regarded as indicative of character or ethnic origin. Posterity: All future generations. Precipitous: Dangerously high or steep or (of a change for the worse) sudden and dramatic. Predecessor: A person who held a job or office before the current holder. Premonition: A strong feeling of something about to happen, especially something unpleasant. Prevailing: Prove more powerful than opposing forces; be victorious or to be widespread in a particular area at a particular time; be current.

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Purveyor: Someone who supplies provisions (especially food).

GLOSSARY

Renege: Go back on a promise, undertaking, or contract. Succumb: Fail to resist (pressure, temptation, or some other negative force) or die from the effect of a disease or injury. Skullduggery: Trickery; verbal misrepresentation intended to take advantage of you in some way. Solicitous: Characterized by showing interest or concern eager; or anxious to do something. Terminal: Of, forming, or situated at the end or extremity of something. Thanatos: The death instinct. Vetting: Make a careful and critical examination of (something). Visage: A person’s face, with reference to the form or proportions of the features or a person’s facial expression: Viscera: The internal organs in the main cavities of the body, especially those in the abdomen, (e.g., the intestines.) Vouchsafe: Give or grant (something) to (someone) in a gracious or condescending manner or to reveal or disclose.

GEOGRAPHY OF LONDON I had neither kith nor kin in England, and was therefore as free as air – or as free as an income of eleven shillings and sixpence a day will permit a man to be. Under such circumstances, I naturally gravitated to London, that great cesspool into which all the loungers and idlers of the Empire are irresistibly drained. – Watson, in “A Study in Scarlet”

The actual 221B Baker Street in London is a Sherlock Holmes museum.

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221B Baker Street: The iconic address of Sherlock Holmes’ apartment.

LONDON

Bournemouth: A place on the south coast of England; as rail service expanded, it was used as a vacation destination for Londoners. Carlton Terrace: A street around Trafalgar Square with exclusive, expensive residences. Admiralty used to have headquarters there and it was near to Buckingham Palace.

Charing Cross: The central train station in London from which trains head south; it’s also the spiritual or map-based center of London. Any distances to and from London are taken from Charing Cross.

The front of Charing Cross train Station in the nineteenth century

Deptford: A poor area of south London, historically Deptford was outside the bounds of city law, so it was a place of criminality and poverty. Destinations such as brothels and opium dens were common.

A poverty-ridden area of Deptford, in 1900.

“My dear fellow,” said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, “life is infinitely stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the wonderful chains of events, working through generation, and leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and unprofitable.” – From “A Case of Identity”

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Euston Station: The main station serving the north and the northwest of London.

LONDON

Gravesend: A port city at the mouth of the Thames, it was a route to continental Europe. A passenger might take a train to Gravesend and then a ferry to the continent. High Gate Cemetery: A stunningly beautiful cemetery on a hill overlooking London, High Gate Cemetery is one of the most significant and wealthier cemeteries in London (it’s home to the tomb of Karl Marx, among numerous important authors).

High Gate Cemetery.

Hippodrome: An entertainment venue, not necessarily doing theatre, but presenting entertainment acts of various types. Hyde Park: One of the lungs of London. When London was designed and built, large green spaces were included in the planning. Hyde Park and Regent’s Park were the two largest planned green spaces in the city. Whereas Regent’s Park is very structured and includes formal gardens, Hyde Park is wilder and has areas for promenading and horseriding.

A modern-day aerial view of Hyde Park

Lake District: An area of outstanding national beauty and national parks that has always been a vacation destination for British tourists. Located in Cumbria, the Lake District is in the northwest of England just south of the border with Scotland. True to its name, it contains many lakes as well as England’s largest mountain.

London Bridge: One of the primary routes across the Thames, London Bridge is one of the oldest routes into the city of London. Marlow: Historically, a city on the Thames that would have been a day trip for Londoners, Marlow is currently a commuter zone of London. It’s also a stop on the journey from London to Oxford. Paddington: The main train station for trains heading west from London. Regent Street: The central shopping thoroughfare of London that was built during the Regency period (thus its name). Today it contains some of the highest end shops in London. Regent Street links Oxford Circus with Charing Cross and Trafalgar Square.

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Savoy: One of the oldest and most famous hotels in London and also famous because of the theatre located there where Gilbert and Sullivan’s premieres took place.

LONDON

Shoreditch: Historically a poor area on the outer edge of London where brothels and various other places of illrepute existed, but now one of the trendier parts of London. Soho: The entertainment heart of London, Soho is associated with theatres and other entertainments as well as restaurants and bars. The entrance to The Savoy from The Strand in 1911

Thames: Britain’s second largest river that runs through the heart of London.

Tower Bridge: Second oldest crossing on the River Thames, it has two towers and two central spans that elevate to allow masted ships through. It’s the also the last navigable bridge ships encountered before coming to the city of London. Tower connects the south bank of the Thames with the Tower of London, hence its name.

A modern-day photograph of Tower Bridge

Thurloe Square: A square in a very rich part of town. Underground: What Americans would call a subway system that serves the London area. Victoria Embankment: The main thoroughfare on the North Bank of the River Thames overlooking Southwark. Waterloo Bridge: Connects the Savoy Hotel to Southwark and also Waterloo Station (which serves the south of England). Named after the famous battle where Wellington defeated Napoleon (i.e. the Battle of Waterloo). West End: Based on the idea that the City of London (the square mile of the old walled city) was the heart of London, and the city spread out from there. The East End was the area of poverty and the West End was the area of wealth. The terms North and South End don’t apply. In today’s world the West End is synonymous with the entertainment area of London. Arizona Theatre Company

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DISCUSSION QUESTIONS AND ACTIVITIES

DISCUSSION

1.

Sherlock Holmes uses keen observation, deduction, and intuition to solve intricate crimes. How do his reasoning skills relate to your own? Give examples when your skills reminded you of Holmes’ skills. Give examples when they did not.

2.

Discuss the purpose of The Suicide Club. History makes it obvious that The Suicide Club’s purpose failed and further, the outcome of "The War To End All Wars" actually set the stage for subsequent wars in the 20th Century, and arguably, wars today. Can you think of other instances in history when noble intentions were twisted into ghastly execution? Discuss these instances and look for parallels in the modern world. Look for parallels in the United States. Look for parallels in your own household. Look for parallels in your own actions.

3.

Part of the Sherlock Holmes mythology is that he lives apart from the law and is always brushing up against Scotland Yard in ways that put his freedom as a citizen in jeopardy. Discuss the paradox of a citizen working towards solving a crime but doing so outside of the law. How might the two be brought together so that they work in a coherent and harmonious fashion? What concessions would Holmes have to make and what concessions would Scotland Yard have to make in order to work together?

4.

How do you think Holmes’ addictive nature serves him in a productive way? What are some instances, beside the obvious, in which his addictive nature is a hindrance? Use examples from the play to back up your answers.

5.

How do you think playwright Jeffrey Hatcher feels about the nature of the way wars begin? How does this compliment or contradict your own feelings about the way wars begin.

6.

The relationship between Holmes and Watson might be characterized as symbiotic, dysfunctional, cute, different, necessary, etc. How would you characterize the relationship? Why do you think the two men remain friends? What instances in the play make you think this?

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Essay Ideas

DISCUSSION

Pick three wars that included United States involvement. Research and write an essay about the road leading up to those wars. Write a comparative essay using as your topic Scotland Yard and the FBI. Focus on the genesis of each organization. Include in your essay the “whys” of each organization’s beginning. Research the Sherlock Holmes mythology, specifically his incarnations by other writers than his creator, Arthur Conan Doyle. Write an essay of the many faces of Holmes and how the times in which his writers lived influenced the way in which Holmes was portrayed. Theatrical Exercise: Choose a person that is a part of your life but with whom you do not share an intimate relationship. For example, the lady at the check-out counter, the librarian at your school, the person you pass everyday on your way to practice, the woman that runs the office in your apartment complex, your class president. For the purposes of this exercise, it would be helpful if this person was someone that you were curious about. Using your keen powers of observation, create a back-story for this person that is BASED ON WHAT YOU HAVE ACTUALLY OBSERVED OF THEM, and write it in the form of a monologue. It might be helpful to pick a particular habit of this person that you have observed and then create a story of how that person acquired that habit. Use your imagination. There are no rules. You may be as creative as you can be, provided what you create is based on actual observation. Choose another student to perform this monologue. Spend one half of a class working with the student so that the performance is as close to what you have envisioned for this monologue. Use the other half of the class being directed yourself in a monologue that has been assigned to you. In the following class, perform the monologues.

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