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REVIEW 'Holmes and Watson' offers funny farce Comment By Bill Varble for the Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Bill Varble for the Mail Tribune Posted Jan. 23, 2016 at 10:31 AM Updated Jan 23, 2016 at 3:06 PM By Bill Varble for the Mail Tribune Posted Jan. 23, 2016 at 10:31 AM Updated Jan 23, 2016 at 3:06 PM » Social News Sherlock Holmes is said to have inspired more movies, plays and other spin-offs than any other fictional character, ever. To the list, add “Holmes and Watson Save the Empire,” Jahnna Beecham and Malcolm Hillgartner’s amusing, British music hall-type farce that opened Friday night at the Randall Theatre in Medford. The case begins, as Holmes’ cases often do, with a small detail, a silver cigarette case apparently given to Prince Albert, the Royal Consort, by Queen Victoria. Remember that cigarette case. It’s an important clue — or is it? The show opens with some raucous music-hall song and dance by Holmes (Robin Downward) and the mysterious Freddie Fish (Jacob Uhlman), then repairs to Holmes and Watson’s (Jon Oles) flat at 221B Baker Street in London, cleverly done up by set designers Downward and Nico Hewitt, where it remains for its entirety. Here will be song and dance. Much tomfoolery. And, of course, much deducing. OK, let’s get this out of the way. Nothing ever actually happens. Except for a home invasion. And a poison gas attack. And Holmes and Watson getting hilariously stoned on some of the finest product of the Hindu Kush, which is consumed with the aid of a giant hookah — but only in the interest of neutralizing the toxicity of the gas, which was instantly analyzed by Holmes. But we don’t see characters running around doing things to other characters as we would in a normal plot unfolding in front of us. Rather, we are witnesses to Holmes, with occasional aid from the rather dim Watson, deconstructing the entire unlikely scheme involving the cigarette case without ever leaving the flat. This is a process that involves sight gags, word play, Victoria’s secret and lots of over-the-top silliness. In a reference to Prince Albert’s roots, Holmes observes sagely that while Brits love to see cross-dressing among Englishmen, they’d never stand for it in a German. A running gag is that when Holmes, the world’s most brilliant man, needs something, anything, he has no idea where he’s put it. This actually gets funnier as it goes. We learn that Queen Victoria, for once, is “amused” (a sly reference to one of her most famous utterances). Another funny bit involves a preposterous anagram that cleverly points to letters NOT included, raised to the fourth power or something, etc., etc., which Holmes, after a couple goofy attempts, succeeds in unlocking. The best part of all this is that it is often, moment to moment, quite funny. The weak part is that the silliness is generally focused on things that happened in the past, and there’s little we’re aware of to make things happen in the present. There seems to be no villain to propel the plot. Except of course there is a villain, and since Holmes eventually deduces a byzantine plot so monstrous it would shake the very foundations of the empire, there’s little doubt as to the villain’s identity. Let’s just say it involves a decades-long conspiracy, an ugly little gnome and a chanteuse known as the Nightingale of Nuremberg. What Beecham and Hillgartner are up to here is having fun sending up the Conan Doyle schtick we’ve all absorbed almost by osmosis. For the most part, you’ll be too busy laughing to be bothered by a lack of momentum. Downward and Oles hit some nice harmonies, Deborah Downward’s dance routines have the boys hoofing around the stage in amusing fashion, and Brianna Gowland’s brisk direction keeps the old flat from getting too claustrophobic. Reach freelance writer Bill Varble at varble.bill @gmail.com. By Bill Varble for the Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Bill Varble for the Mail Tribune Posted Jan. 23, 2016 at 10:31 AM Updated Jan 23, 2016 at 3:06 PM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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