An Entirely New Country by Alistair Duncan

Author:Alistair Duncan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Sherlock Holmes, mystery, crime, british crime, sherlock holmes novels, undershaw
ISBN: 9781908218209
Publisher: Andrews UK Limited 2011
Published: 2011-12-16T00:00:00+00:00

‘While regretting the discourtesy of a small section of the audience, I may seize the opportunity to urge actors and actresses to make their voices heard distinctly. This duty, often neglected by stars to whom the public has been too indulgent, ought surely to be paramount with the acting profession.’

It appears, from his speech at the end of the performance, that Gillette was unaware that he could not be heard. Perhaps, ironically, he was unable to hear any demands for him to speak up. Instead he seems to have been convinced that the audience was objecting to the play itself and criticising Conan Doyle.

Conan Doyle, despite the reports in the press, had not been able to attend so Gillette took it upon himself to defend him.

He stated, according to The New York Times, ‘Dr. Doyle is absent and in a safer place’ and went on to remark on how he had tried his best to present the character in a way his creator would have been happy with. He concluded by saying that he appreciated the audience’s praise and felt that he was ‘among friends.’ 110

This was not wishful thinking on Gillette’s part as, aside from the unhappy gallery, the rest of the audience applauded his efforts. However it seems reasonably clear that it was his lack of rehearsal time at the Lyceum, combined with his policy of not rehearsing the day before a debut, which led him to misjudge the volume of his voice and thus trigger some of the unhappiness in his audience.

The most intensely critical appraisal of his performance came from critic J.T. Grein who wrote his piece on September 15th. Grein ’s review practically contained a negative in every sentence with examples such as ‘It is a penny dreadful minus the coherence which is to be found in even that very cheap product of scribblership.’ 111 Gillette’s performance was summed up with the line ‘The performance will confirm Mr. Gillette’s reputation as an actor of great resources, but I fear that at best his fame as an artist will remain unimpaired by his thankless experiment’.

Despite the opinions of Grein the play went on to perform in front of full houses and such was its popularity that The New York Times of November 23rd reported that the management of the Lyceum Theatre had negotiated an extension of the play with Charles Frohman. The deal that was arranged ensured that the play continued to run beyond its initial twelve week agreement until Sir Henry Irving returned from America. This meant that the play finished, after two hundred and sixteen performances, on April 12th 1902 which ensured that it left the Lyceum in the same month that the final instalment of The Hound of the Baskervilles was published in The Strand. In many ways the success of the one assisted with the success of the other given that they had both essentially run in parallel.

Nine days before the play closed Gillette sponsored (and presumably hosted) a farewell dinner at the theatre.

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