Does Holmes Fest ring any bells? Some of you might recall the successful festival from pre-pandemic days, when local writer Matt Wingett launched a celebration of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and his most famous character, Sherlock Holmes. Darragh Gray reports.
The good news is that – after a hiatus of several years – Holmes Fest has returned for 2024. The show was scheduled for one night at Old Portsmouth’s Square Tower in February, but the seats went quickly. “Tickets sold out the week before, and many people asked me to run it again,” he explains. “So here we are back for two nights in a bigger venue this November!”
Celebrating a special connection with Portsmouth
Many readers will know that Arthur Conan Doyle had a long association with Southsea, where he lived for eight years and where he first created his most famous character Sherlock Holmes.
‘When he arrived in Portsmouth in 1882, he was 6 feet 2 and 14 stone of lean meat – a 23-year-old with £10 in his pocket who had already worked as a ship’s surgeon on the coast of West Africa and on an Arctic whaler,’ says Matt.
‘He was a man who absolutely knew that he had to succeed, and one way to do that would be to write compelling stories! We’re so lucky to have this extraordinary character associated with our city. He’s in many ways an inspirational figure.’
A wide repertoire
What I perhaps hadn’t appreciated before is quite how wide Doyle’s writing ranges – from detective stories to comedy, horror, historical fiction and even romance.
‘Sherlock Holmes is a great part of our popular culture and has now inspired well over 250 movies, going right back to the early days of the silents.’ But Doyle also invented the ‘killer mummy’ genre which inspired countless movies and is still going strong, while Jurassic Park owes pretty much everything to his novel The Lost World.
What is it exactly that makes Doyle’s work so enduring? Perhaps it’s his natural gift for storytelling; his own sense of adventure that led him to create such action-filled tales; or his deep understanding of the human psyche that helped him to invent such well-drawn characters.
‘I think people enjoy his work because they love the great energy in the Holmes stories and in the man himself,’ Matt suggests. ‘Personally, I admire Doyle because his approach to writing was the same as his approach to life: he was completely fearless!’
What to expect from the show
It’s fair to say that Holmes Fest offers something for everyone, whether you’re a Sherlock Holmes fan or not.
Presented in Victorian music hall style, and structured as a series of short acts, the show promises plenty of humour throughout and includes a brief film, a series of sketches, songs, readings and even some rap.
It’s great to see so much local talent involved. For example, Portsmouth writer Christine Lawrence plays Mrs Hudson, Holmes’s landlady, who will share the truth of what really goes on behind the closed doors of 221b Baker Street!
Poet Jackson Davis will be rapping about the life of Conan Doyle, and Janet Ayers and Matt Parsons will appear as comedy music hall duo Hudson and Lestrade (named after the Scotland Yard detective who pops up in so many Holmes stories).
The Gosport Steampunk Society will deliver an eccentric and exceedingly silly re-enactment of the last duel in England (which was fought nearby on Hampshire soil). Matt also ropes in his brother Mark, who has starred in The Bill and Quadrophenia, for a hilarious appearance as fictional Victorian character Sir Algernon Blenkinsop-Carver.
Celebrating Portsmouth
Matt’s intention is for this month’s show to become the starting point for a much bigger festival in the years ahead.
As well as providing us with a great night of entertainment, he sees Holmes Fest as an opportunity to nurture our city’s creativity. ‘In a world in which we forget our sense of place – by forever being dragged out to exotic locations by movies and TV shows – I think we sometimes lose sight of the fact that amazing things can happen here, right under our noses.’
‘So in an odd way, Holmes Fest is about taking back our sense of self from the TV and film companies. It’s about being real and loving where you live. That’s what a lot of my work is about – while recognising that some of the most extraordinary world-changing creatives might be living just down the road in Pompey too!’
Information and tickets
Holmes Fest runs for two nights at Groundlings Theatre 42 Kent Street, Portsmouth, PO1 3BS on Wednesday 20 and Thursday 21 November at 7.30pm.
Tickets cost £15 and are available from the theatre website. Best grab them quick before they sell out again!
Picture of Holmes Fest poster re-used with permission from Holmes Fest.
