ELEMENTARY BUT AMUSING
Unbound Productions takes original material and sets it in vaguely similar settings using carefully-chosen actors and company directors; the company has been producing site-specific plays since 2008.
Their latest concoction is an amusing mash-up (as they describe it) of three Conan Doyle short stories starring Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Watson, Inspector Lestrade, Irene Adler and a bevy of policemen. The three stories, “A Scandal in Bohemia,” “The Red-Headed League,” and “The Adventure of the Copper Beeches,” are now subtitled Mystery Lit: Holmes, Sherlock, and The Consulting Detective.
The production is housed at the Santa Anita Railroad Depot on the southern edge of L.A. County’s Arboretum, all outdoors, with the three sets of action performed on top of each other to much amusement. Sherlock (Paul Romero, slight of build), Holmes (Richard Large), and The Consulting Detective (Chairman Barnes) take up the plots of the three stories, with one Dr. Watson (Joe Camareno) (literally) running between the three men, and one Lestrade (Robert Beddall) in the Copper Beeches segment.
The four policemen (Kevin Dulude, John Leslie, Aaron McGee, and Robert Paterno) also play a series of smaller roles. But the two outstanding performances belong to the two women in the show, gorgeous-voiced Jenna Hunt as high-pitched Violet Hunter and sensually-voiced as Irene Adler and Hannah Whiteoak as Clara Huggins.
It’s an experience, indeed, and since Unbound is funded by individuals and city/county monies, they have more afoot (as it were) in the next few months.
photos by Heidi Marie Photography
Mystery Lit: Holmes, Sherlock,
and The Consulting Detective
Unbound Productions
Santa Anita Railroad Depot
159 S. Baldwin Ave. in Arcadia
ends on July 1, 2017
for tickets, call 323.332.2065
or visit Unbound Productions
