Sherlock Holmes - The Pantaloons

I’ve written before about The Pantaloons. And I’ve written before about the Devonshire Park Theatre in my home town of Eastbourne. So to write about them together is something of a joy.

I saw The Pantaloons’ Sherlock Holmes at the DPT on Wednesday 16^th April 2014 (at the evening performance). I’d seen their Sherlock Holmes early on in last year’s run, but this year’s version – now indoors and with a slightly tweaked cast – is an even slicker, funnier and more confident production.

All the cast are seasoned Pantaloons now. Three of the cast were in the previous tour – although last year’s Watson is now Holmes (Edward Ferrow, faintly Cumberbatch-like in this role) – and the new Watson (Christopher Smart, a gleefully wicked improviser) has been in various other shows with The Pantaloons. They all know exactly how to work an audience: how to interact with them and improvise around them; how to milk a laugh.

And the gags are just as silly as last year. The variations on ‘Elementary, my dear Watson’ are still groan-worthily funny, and I’m not sure I’d ever get tired of the Circle Line joke.

Like Gary, the audience member who had been at both the matinee and the evening performance that day, I have yet to see the alternative version of this production, where the stories and roles are different. Both this time and last time I saw it, the audience chose to see the story of The League of Red Headed Men – meaning, as a consequence, that I’ve seen cast member Isaac Leafe twice now as Moriarty, but never Elliot Quinn.

But even with the same rendering of the play on offer (and how many companies would give you an option, anyway?), no two performances by The Pantaloons are ever exactly the same.


After seeing Filter’s Twelfth Night at the DPT recently, it’s great to see another fresh, slightly anarchic production again there so soon. I love the Devonshire Park as a theatre, and it’s fantastic to see more of the kind of theatre I enjoy being put on at the Devonshire Park.


The Pantaloons are on tour with Sherlock Holmes until the end of April. Full tour details can be found on their website.

If you want to know how my review of the 2014 Sherlock Holmes compares to last year’s, you can find my thoughts from 2013 here.