“I gazed with interest and some surprise”
I hear of Wenlock everywhere
Wenlock and Mandeville, the official mascots of the 2012 London Olympics have been popping up in all sorts of guises across London. And no medals for guessing which of these lovable figures (there are eighty-three of them) is doing the honours in Regent’s Park, at the top end of Baker Street. Yes, it’s Sherlock Wenlock, standing there in all his glory on the podium. https://mascot-games.london2012.com/
Roger Johnson, writing in the District Messenger (no.324, 30 July) says Sherlock Wenlock is ‘even weirder than the Sherlock Holmes elephant of a few years ago.’
If you didn’t already know the following fascinating facts, we can tell you that Wenlock was named after the Shropshire town of Much Wenlock – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Much_Wenlock – that helped inspire Pierre de Coubertin to launch the modern Olympics – http://www.wenlock-olympian-society.org.uk/. Mandeville was inspired by the Buckinghamshire town of Stoke Mandeville, where the Paralympics were founded.
No sign of Sherlock in the spectacular opening ceremony, well, he just can’t be everywhere, despite what Mycroft said to Dr. Watson. However, we can report that the BBC’s hugely popular Sherlock, Benedict Cumberbatch, did narrate a very warm invitation to the games on a short video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvK1X_MdMN0
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time Live
The National Theatre’s latest productions include the stage adaptation of Mark Haddon’s award-winning novel, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. http://festival.london2012.com/events/9000965735
You can find an article about the play here. http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2012/jul/25/curious-tale-dog-night-time
BBC Radio 4’s daily arts programme Front Row included a review of the play in their Friday 3 August 2012 edition. You can catch it here. http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01l8rbx/Front_Row_Curious_
Incident_onstage_Alan_Davies_Olympic_puppeteers/
For those who can’t get to see the actual performances, the next best thing has got to be the live broadcasts (NT Live) from the National’s stages to cinemas and performing arts venues around the world. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time will be screened to cinemas throughout the UK on Thursday 6 September 2012. http://microsites.nationaltheatre.org.uk/ntlive
Among the venues is the Queen’s Film Theatre (QFT), Belfast. The time is 6.45 for 7pm. Tickets cost £10. http://www.queensfilmtheatre.com/films/ntlivethecuriousincidentofthedog
Glancing over the cast list, we spotted Unna Stubbs, who fans of the BBC’s hugely successful Sherlock series will recognize as Mrs Hudson. And Talking of Sherlock, NT Live recently broadcast live the stage version of Frankenstein (they actually did this twice) which starred Benedict Cumberbatch and his pal Jonny Lee Miller, who we’re looking forward (well, some of us are) to seeing in CBS’s new Elementary in the autumn (on Sky Living in the UK/Ireland).
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time has sold over two million copies since its release in 2003. It is not a Sherlock Holmes book, but there are Sherlockian connections, apart from the fact that the title is one of the sleuth’s most famous quotes, perhaps the most famous.
The hero of the book is fifteen year old Christopher. Christopher’s own favourite book is The Hound of the Baskervilles: “I like The Hound of the Baskervilles because it is a detective story which means that there are clues and Red Herrings…I like Sherlock Holmes, but I do not like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle…because he wasn’t like Sherlock Holmes and he believed in the supernatural…I thought that I had to be like Sherlock Holmes and I had to detach my mind to a remarkable degree…” Writing in Chronicler (issue 5, September 2003), Alex Kane described it as ‘a hugely enjoyable book.’
A film adaptation, written and directed by Steve Cloves is currently being planned, according to Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Curious_Incident_of_the_Dog_in_the_Night-Time