Sign Of Four Review – Greenwich Theatre

SIGN OF FOUR

A review by Abigail Kathleen

Set during the Indian rebellion, Sign of Four is about the mystery of stolen treasure and the disappearance of a Soldier seeking to reconnect with his daughter. His daughter Mary goes to Sherlock to work out the mystery of his disappearance and the origin of the treasure.

Sign Of Four has been adapted for the stage and is currently on tour, and so being a huge fan of the Sherlock Holmes Novels I was very excited and intrigued into how the story could be performed on stage. Sign Of Four was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s second Sherlock Holmes novel, and in total there are four Sherlock novels and 56 short stories.

The set reflected the time era of London very uniquely and creative, and I’m struggling to find the right words to describe it except for creatively place scaffolding. The cast was very minimal which meant the supporting actors played multiple roles, which to be honest got confusing at times. I think they should have roped another actor in as they were also the musicians, and it all just felt a bit too much.

Throughout the performance the actors remained sat at the back on the stage, and were very visible which was distracting and unnecessary. I just found it hard focusing on what was going on centre stage when I can see the other actors preparing at the back. I have been to Greenwich Theatre before, to see The Tempest, so I know there is plenty of room for the actors to leave the stage entirely.

The actors performed spectacularly though I wasn’t entirely sold on the performance of Sherlock as a character which came across more Matt Smith’s 11th Doctor, if you have previously watch Doctor Who then you will understand. That aside I still very much enjoyed the portrayals of Sherlock and Dr Watson, the dialogue flowed, the characteristics were consistent and they did all this whilst contending with the most horrid noise coming from a faulty speaker.

The idea and concept for the stage production of the second Sherlock novel is there but in all honesty I believe it had so much potential to be even better.