Review: The Hunt for Moriarty at the Theatre Royal Windsor

A theatre’s secret room, the silent Diogenes Club, streets heavy with London fog and the thunderous Reichenbach Falls – The Hunt for Moriarty sweeps through dramatic locations to match its ambitious scope.

Blackeyed Theatre’s production melds existing Sherlock Holmes tales to create an encompassing plot that sees the brilliant detective stalking his arch-enemy, ‘the Napoleon of crime’ – Moriarty. 

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s original books, and the many dramatisations, have won legions of fans who will recognise the source material here: The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans, The Second Stain, The Final Problem and A Scandal in Bohemia. 

The latter features Irene Adler, whom Sherlock calls ‘the Woman’, and she plays a strong part in The Hunt for Moriarty. Dauntless Dr Watson is, as ever, by the detective’s side and, here, their landlady Mrs Hudson, steps boldly beyond 221B Baker Street and proves her own mettle. Sherlock’s formidablel brother Mycroft Holmes and dependable Inspector Lestrade are also prominent.

The six-strong cast works with remarkable agility, often literally. Mark Knightly’s Sherlock and Ben Owora’s Watson are the only actors with single roles – though both are on stage for almost all of this epic adventure.

Pippa Caddick deftly embodies all the female characters, from plucky Mrs Hudson to compelling Irene Adler. Robbie Capaldi juggles four parts, including a standout, eyepatch-sporting turn as Sir James de Wilde. Eliot Giuralarocco takes on five, offering a wry and memorable Mycroft, while Gavin Molloy’s four roles demonstrate impressive range – from the steadfast Lestrade to the chilling Professor Moriarty.

The versatile set – a clever arrangement of wooden doors, staircases, closets, and high windows – supports fluid scene changes and striking projections of words, waterfalls and more.

The animated text recalls Sherlock, the BBC series first broadcast 15 years ago, and Tristan Parkes’s lively score tips its hat to that modern classic.

The sound was not so strong – or rather too strong – in the Reichenbach scene, where the roar of the waterfall overpowered the actors, but otherwise the production flows apace with ingenuity, plenty of plot and powerful theatricality.

The show is produced in association with Theatre Royal Winchester and Bracknell’s South Hill Park – the latter is home to the theatre company – and it’s great to see a production grown so close to home before it tours extensively all over England and into Wales.

The game’s afoot…