Out of all venues for an event dedicated to the discussion of an
interpretation of Sherlock Holmes, there could be none better than
the Criterion Theatre, located on one of London's most famous
junctions - Piccadilly Circus - and next to the Criterion Bar,
famous as the place where Doctor John Watson first heard the name
'Sherlock Holmes' spoken aloud by Stamford in A Study in
Scarlet.
The Game is On: An Afternoon with Mark Gatiss and friends was
held in support of London Lesbian & Gay Switchboard. Since the
event was recorded by LLGS, this isn't a full transcript of what
occurred, but rather a collection of many of its highlights that
relate most directly to Sherlock. All told, The Game is On was a
raucous and hilarious time, with anecdotes coming thick and fast
throughout its duration to an almost bewildering, and extremely
face aching degree.
To huge cheers from the audience Ian Hallard was first to take
to the stage, to both explain the role the charity plays and the
format of what we were about to witness, as well as making
apologies for Andrew Scott and Una Stubbs, who both sadly had had
to drop out of the afternoon due to other commitments. Rather
teasingly Ian joked that Martin had also had to drop out, before
quickly retracting that in response to the audience's reaction. Ian
then introduced our host for the afternoon, Mr. Mark Gatiss.
Mark joked that since this was an event billed as featuring his
friends, our first guest would be the head of parking for
Westminster council, before calling Steven Moffat and Sue Vertue to
the stage. Donning a pair of thick rimmed black glasses, and
producing a list of questions submitted via email that were printed
on the back of old script pages, Mark played the role of host for
the entire event, putting questions to those onstage with his
trademark sense of wit that consistently had everyone on stage in
stitches, as well as the entire auditorium. With nary a hint of
starting as he meant to go on, the first question Mark dropped
related to the perceived homoeroticism in BBC Sherlock - or more
specifically the thinking that it's Mark who instigates the homo
erotic jokes, whereas it's actually Steven. Steven remarked that
much of it all stems from the dinner scene as A Study in
Pink while Sherlock and John are watching for the taxi, which
was inserted as the episode was running under time - and it was
Mark who rather astutely noted from then on "You realise this
is going to be all they talk about."
The waiting time for PBS broadcast in the United States was
brought up, with Sue noting that if possible, that large gap would
be reduced. And on a similar vein, it was asked how long Sherlock
would run for, with Sue saying that the series would continue for
as long as everyone is happy to keep making it. Mark again brought
up the desire to see the pair age over years into the roles,
something that hadn't really been seen before. That in turn led to
discussion of the back story for Sherlock and Mycroft, with Mark
extrapolating upon material partially revealed in the DVD
commentary for The Great Game. In their invented back
story, the sibling rivalry stems from a young Sherlock discovering
that the pair's father was having an affair, creating a family
rift. The material was cut out of the final version of the episode
though, with Steven saying that ultimately they were not happy
about including it as it was their own invention and addition to
the characters, rather from the source material. There were however
minor onset asides to Sherlock's isolation in A Scandal in
Belgravia, during the Christmas scene - though they aren't really
visible onscreen, all the cards on the mantelpiece above the
fireplace were addressed to John, bar one.
Next up on stage was Louise Brealey, who regaled us with some
grim stories about filming in Methyr Tydfil morgue, not confined to
finding brains in buckets, knife sharpeners, oddly out of place and
thus disturbing implements - such as ladles - lying around, and
filming in the location at 4am, or being snowed in there. At one
point, when asked what it is like to work with three handsome
actors like Benedict Cumberbatch, Martin Freeman and Andrew Scott,
Mark completed the question, before realising the implication of it
and threw down the question papers in mock disgust and petulance,
before resuming with a huge grin thanks to huge cheers for him from
the audience.
Rupert Graves was next to arrive, and confirmed the famous story
of him running away to join the circus as a sixteen year old. In
actual fact, he answered an advertisement for apprentice clowns in
the job centre, and ended up learning a variety of tricks ranging
from juggling to turning water in a bucket into confetti. Rupert
confirmed he currently has no plans to appear in theatre due to his
young family - joking that arriving home in the late hours tired
from work and accidently swearing at a small child isn't terribly
conducive to a happy home life. Mark also rather devilishly brought
up the fact that since Lestrade and Mycroft have yet to share a
scene together there is a degree of fan fiction prevalent online
that paired the two up romantically, leading to a genuinely
surprised reaction from Rupert that he then rather amusingly played
up, appearing quite open to the idea.
Last onstage was Martin Freeman, receiving the biggest welcome
but also the most interesting audience interaction throughout,
responding to laughter when he wasn't saying anything genuinely
funny with an anecdote about his mother in law doing the same,
where she ends up laughing when he simply said hello. Martin
admitted that his previous knowledge of the characters created by
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was actually rather low before he started
the series, having only heard of them as part of popular culture,
and he was resistant to a modern version of the stories before
falling in love with the script. He said he carried out some
research for the role, meeting a pair of army doctors who gave him
some insight, but didn't stretch himself as far as taking part in
any firearms training. Martin also spoke about chemistry between
actors, remarking that you recognise it relatively instantly when
it happens, as well as being on the cusp of possible superstardom
with the arrival of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey in
just over a month's time, and the uncertainty over whether it will
end up changing his life. He said he hadn't seen the complete
version of the film, only sections when he carried out some
Additional Dialogue Recording (ADR), but affirmed that it looked
fantastic.
After a short interval, the second half was turned over to
audience questions, which covered a broad range of subjects, not
least fan fiction and John Watson's 'red pants', all of which led
to some particularly funny reactions from all on stage best left to
any recording of the event. Amongst all the hilarity though, there
were several intriguing lines of enquiry, not least some effective
dodging on questions related to series three, especially when
directly asked about Sebastian Moran. Mark listed the character's
qualities as they appear in Conan Doyle's original work, but
refused to confirm or deny his appearance in Series Three. Also
carefully skirted around was John's possible reaction to Sherlock's
return, though Martin hinted at a preference for a punch being
involved in some manner….
Much discussion centred around favourite scenes from the series,
both to write, film and act in. In the end, all came from A
Scandal in Belgravia. Steven said he most enjoyed writing
scenes between Irene and Sherlock, as well as the Mycroft and
Sherlock exchange in the morgue, as both were far from what
normally appears in a Holmes adaptation. Rupert and Louise both
said the Christmas scene, with Rupert joking about finding material
to play when there was nothing scripted in the stage direction for
Lestrade to do. Martin jokingly said he hated all of it, but Sue
said that filming in Battersea Power Station was a true highlight
and Martin agreed. Mark said that filming in the plane was a strong
moment for him, telling of wrangling all the 'dead' - actually,
sleeping - extras, and a funny story of Steven arriving on a set
visit at 4 am from writing the Doctor Who 2011 Christmas Special
and promptly falling asleep in business class. And rather
teasingly, Mark also said his favourite scene to write was 'a scene
you haven't seen yet'.
At one point, Mark quickly disappeared backstage and returned
carrying a green velvet suited stage dummy that he proceeded to use
as a stand in Andrew Scott, beginning with an excellent,
exaggerated vocal impression of the man himself to answer submitted
questions that Andrew had responded to, including his favourite
scene to film - the Richard Brook encounter in The Reichenbach
Fall. With much hilarity from everyone onstage and in the
audience, Mark puppeteered the dummy throughout in a comedic and
occasionally suggestive manner!
We'll admit that there's a question we've wanted to ask Steven
and Mark for quite a while. While often and repeatedly talking
about the Basil Rathebone films and The Private Life of
Sherlock Holmes, we've never heard them mention in detail
their opinions of Jeremy Brett and the Granada series. When asked,
Steven immediately called him a brilliant and astonishing Sherlock
Holmes. He noted that since Rathebone, nothing genuinely new had
been done in the portrayal of the character, and Brett brought a
new spin on it with his radical reinterpretation, with Steven
saying that his portrayal was manic and somewhat psychotic. Mark
said he remembered being hugely excited when he saw the first
advert on television, with Brett in a tight fitting cloth cap, and
he mistook him for Nigel Havers. Mark did note though a fair
point about the structure of the Granada series, in that stories
that only take fifteen minutes to read can be difficult to stretch
out to an hour onscreen. He made a point that that opinion was very
far from being all inclusive of the entire series, as he thought
the long stories were exceptional, while Steven called the best of
them utterly tremendous, and Brett was nothing less than utterly
watchable.
Another, similar, question was whether there was anything so
Victoriana in tone in the original stories it couldn't be adapted
to the modern day setting. Mark picked out The Adventure of the
Yellow Face, as it was not only an example of Sherlock getting
every deduction wrong - which he admittedly does love as concept -
but was coupled with a daring depiction of inter racial marriage,
something that is now commonplace but at the time potentially
shocking to some. On the subject of crossovers, Martin admitted his
resistance to the idea, be it with other programmes or as the
subject of a charity fundraiser such as Comic Relief or Children in
Need, a response which provoked a hugely amused reaction from
Steven with him remarking along the lines of 'the children are
starving, we didn't really need that well, but at least Freeman
stuck to his guns!'
Finally we came to the close, but not before discussion of
favourite Reichenbach survival theories. Mark said they had read
all of them, but noted that in the end "Everything is there if
you look." Martin at this point requested that they have
something else to say in response to the 'how did he do it'
question, as every time he said that he got the impression
that people just wanted to punch him in the face. To end the
event, Mark indulged in a spot of role play of the rooftop scene to
reveal his personal favourite theory. Deploying a priceless
impression of Benedict's expression, and with Martin remembering
John's lines in concert, Mark simply said "Goodbye John",
before walking off stage and instantly returned with a can of Red
Bull, which he promptly cracked open.
With that, this first experience of Sherlock as a near
convention level event was over. With its huge doses of humour,
trivia and storytelling, it was a tremendously fun time, in support
of a very good cause, and we can but hope the first of many similar
events as BBC Sherlock continues to grow.
Our huge thanks to all at London Lesbian & Gay
Switchboard for organising the event, which sold out within
five days and raised around £13,000 for the
charity's information and support services to the LGBT
community. These include a free and confidential telephone
helpline, instant messaging and email support.
If you were unable to attend The Game is On, but wish to
find out more about London Lesbian & Gay Switchboard and the
excellent work they do, you can visit
their website for more information, and also donate directly to the charity.
All photographs are copyright, and used with permission of
the London Lesbian & Gay Switchboard, with our further huge
thanks.
