New Jersey Stage logo
New Jersey Stage Menu



 

Relive The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes With East Lynne Theater's Radio Play


By Gary Wien, JerseyArts.com

originally published: 03/15/2018

“Mr. Holmes, I am under such a strain that I shall go mad if it continues. Do you think that your powers could shed a little light in the darkness which surrounds me?” asks Enid Stonor, who made her way from an eerie country mansion to London to talk to Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson.  Her sister died under mysterious circumstances and she’s asking for help because Enid believes she will be the next to be murdered.

That’s the premise behind “Sherlock Holmes’ Adventure of the Speckled Band,” which East Lynne Theater Company will present on Friday and Saturday, March 16-17, at 8:00pm in Cape May.  The production is done in the style of an old-time radio broadcast, complete with live sound effects and commercials, just like the Sherlock Holmes’ radio series on NBC that premiered in 1930.  They will be using a script adapted by Craig Wichman, Founder and Producer of the nationally acclaimed Quicksilver Radio Theater.  His script received the National Federation of Community Broadcasters’ “Gold Reel” for Radio Drama Award.

East Lynne Theater has been producing radio plays featuring the exploits of Sherlock Holmes for more than a decade.  This production returns Lee O’Connor as Sherlock Holmes and Fred Velde as Dr. Watson – roles they have played for quite some time. The cast also includes Susan Tischler as Enid Stonor,  Craig Wichman as Dr. Roylott, Phil Pizzi in multiple roles (as well as operating live sound effects) and Gayle Stahlhuth as Mrs. Hudson and Violet Stoner. Stahlhuth, the Artistic Director for the theatre also directs the production.  Performances take place at The First Presbyterian Church of Cape May, 500 Hughes Street, where the company is in residence.

Culture Vultures caught up with Stahlhuth to learn more about the show.

 




Promote your shows at New Jersey Stage! Click here for info



Culture Vultures: What is it about Sherlock Holmes that makes the stories work so well in the radio play format?

Gayle Stahlhuth: The Sherlock Holmes stories lend themselves to a nice radio format because they’re mostly short stories that can be pretty easily adapted into the half hour radio format. In our case, we stretch them out a little bit so they’re about 50-60 minute radio versions, which include old-time radio commercials.

 

EastLynne-Holmes1

CV: You’re using a script by Craig Wichman.  I know you’ve worked with his scripts before, but has he ever performed with the theater?

GS: This is the first time! With his own Quicksilver Radio Theatre, he always plays Sherlock Holmes, so this will be the first time he’s playing Dr. Roylott in his own script.  When it comes to Sherlock Holmes, we either use Craig’s adaptations or my own.  I don’t use the Edith Meiser scripts because she kind of wimps out the women, which I think is very funny being a woman herself doing the adaptations.

 

CV: I know you have used Lee O’Connor and Fred Velde as Holmes and Watson for a while, what do they bring to the roles?




Promote your shows at New Jersey Stage! Click here for info



GS: Both Lee and Fred have terrific voices for radio.  When I cast this show, I’m very careful about the sound and how people’s voices will be on microphones.  Although there’s no airwaves picking us up, we perform on microphones as if they were being broadcast to the universe.

In our versions, Watson is not a bumbler.  He’s a very smart guy who has a war wound and is a well-respected physician.   It was only when Nigel Bruce started to play him in the films that he began to be a little more on the doughty side.  Most people don’t believe that was Conan Doyle’s interpretation.

So, it’s their voices that add a lot and their complete understanding of the characters.  And it’s kind of nice to have the same people play them every year.

 

EastLynne-Holmes2

CV: What are some of the aspects of a radio play that are different from a traditionally staged production?

GS: Radio plays are about timing. For example, you have to be aware of when the sound effects person has someone knock on a door, they have to wait until the door opens and then they can actually go in and have the door close before they speak.  So, it’s not only the timing with people speaking, but you have to have an eye on the person doing sound effects and vice versa.  That’s so you don’t literally walk on a line or speak as the door is being closed or anything like that.

By now we have a bit of a stable of actors who have done a radio production with us.  So they’re pretty adept at knowing which microphone to go to and how to avoid making noise when they turn pages and all of that.

The more we are committed on stage to believing that we are actually being broadcast live and people can hear us from coast to coast, the more fun we have, and the more careful we are with how we present it.  We even have an on-air sign that goes on when the stage manager does the countdown “5-4-3-2-GO!”  The on-air sign goes on and it’s quite wonderful to realize the whole audience shuts up!

 




Promote your shows at New Jersey Stage! Click here for info



CV: How do the Sherlock Holmes stories fit in with the theatre’s mission?

GS: We’re an American-based company and Sherlock Holmes is British.  We know that.  But the Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts – another nonprofit down here in Cape May – had been doing Sherlock Holmes weekends for at least 20 years.  About 15 years ago, we talked about how East Lynne Theater could help with the Sherlock Holmes weekends.   I knew it had to be American somehow, which is why we started with the William Gillette adaptation.  Gillette is American, so we were actually doing an American play that was quite popular in 1899.  Then we needed something else and by doing research we learned that the first radio versions of Sherlock Holmes were in this country beginning in 1930.  So, we’re still true to our mission.

It was Edith Meiser back in 1930 that suggested Sherlock Holmes to NBC and the men at NBC said they couldn’t do it until she found a sponsor.  She found one and that series lasted 20 years.  It was on the radio every week from 1930 until 1950.



For more information on the production and the cast or to purchase tickets, visit East Lynne Theater company’s website.





About the author: Gary Wien is a music journalist from Belmar, NJ. A three-time winner of Asbury Music’s Music Journalist of The Year, his writing and photographs have been seen in publications like Upstage Magazine, Backstreets Magazine, Gannett Newspapers, and Princeton Magazine. He is the also the author of two books: Beyond The Palace (about the history of rock music in Asbury Park) and Are You Listening? (his picks for the Top 100 Albums of 2001-2010 by New Jersey Artists) and is the publisher of New Jersey Stage magazine.

Content provided by Discover Jersey Arts, a project of the ArtPride New Jersey Foundation and New Jersey State Council on the Arts.





FEATURED EVENTS

ART | COMEDY | DANCE | FILM | MUSIC | THEATRE | COMMUNITY

To narrow results by date range, categories,
or region of New Jersey
click here for our advanced search.


Purlie

Purlie

Saturday, March 15, 2025 @ 7:00pm
Hamilton Stage at Union County Performing Arts Center (UCPAC)
360 Hamilton Avenue, Rahway, NJ 07065
category: theatre

Click here for full event listing

 

Amadeus

Amadeus

Saturday, March 15, 2025 @ 7:30pm
Grunin Center - Black Box Theater
1 College Drive, Toms River, NJ 08754
category: theatre

Click here for full event listing

 

Amadeus

Amadeus

Saturday, March 15, 2025 @ 2:00pm
Grunin Center - Black Box Theater
1 College Drive, Toms River, NJ 08754
category: theatre

Click here for full event listing

 

Beautiful,

Beautiful, The Carole King Musical

Saturday, March 15, 2025 @ 7:00pm
Axelrod Performing Arts Center
100 Grant Avenue, Deal Park, NJ 07723
category: theatre

Click here for full event listing

 

Beautiful,

Beautiful, The Carole King Musical

Saturday, March 15, 2025 @ 2:00pm
Axelrod Performing Arts Center
100 Grant Avenue, Deal Park, NJ 07723
category: theatre

Click here for full event listing

 

More events

Event Listings are available for $10 and included with our banner ad packages




 

EVENT PREVIEWS

Ritz

Ritz Theatre Company presents "Julius Caesar"

(HADDON TOWNSHIP, NJ) -- The Ritz Theatre Company is presenting Julius Caesar weekends from March 14-30, 2025. This is one of William Shakespeare's most enduringly popular and influential works. "Beware the Ides of March!"



Jersey

Jersey City Theater Center presents "Three for the King: Three Short Plays by Renee Flemings" on Saturday

(JERSEY CITY, NJ) -- On Saturday, March 15, 2025, Jersey City Theater Center (JCTC) presents Three for the King, a compelling afternoon of theatre featuring a staged reading of three short plays by Renee Flemings. Showtime is 3:00pm.



How

How Jersey Are You? Find Out when "The Devil and Daisy Dirt" comes to Ocean County Library

(TOMS RIVER, NJ) -- Bruce and Bon Jovi. Lucy the Elephant and Hurricane Harbor. The Parkway and the Turnpike. You are Jersey all the way. However, have you seen the tallest Jersey Devil tale ever? The Ocean County Library Toms River Branch presents The Devil and Daisy Dirt: A Garden State Gothic, Alt-Folk Event on Monday, April 14, 2025. The event begins at 7:00pm.



SoHo

SoHo Playhouse presents the World Premiere of "Gloaming, Nowhere"

(NEW YORK, NY) -- SoHo Playhouse presents the world premiere of Gloaming, Nowhere, created and performed by J.S. Streible, with original songs by Streible, running March 12 – April 5, 2025 in a limited engagement for 23 performances in the theater's intimate Huron Room. Gloaming, Nowhere is the world's first Neo-Appalachian, Afrolachian, Southern Pop Revusical.



The

The Barn Theatre presents "Of Mice and Men"

(MONTVILLE, NJ) -- The Barn Theatre presents Of Mice and Men from weekends from March 14-30, 2025. This is a stage adaptation of the 1937 novel by American author John Steinbeck. The production is directed by Mark Phelan.