YO U R T H E AT R E
“It’s something so different from me. All the roles I’ve played before have basically been me.” So, how do you explain wanting to play Sherlock Holmes then? Of all the people you’d expect to portray him, Joe Pasquale would be the last, right? “It’s something so different from me. All the roles I’ve played before have basically been me. The Nerd was very much me. The Producers was me with an American accent. Doctor in the House was me in a white coat. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead was a layabout version of me. But Sherlock Holmes is a real stretch for me. I’ve loved it. I’ve especially enjoyed working with Ben Langley, who wrote the play and co-stars as Doctor Watson.” We suppose anything is better than those bushtucker trials they had Joe doing in the I’m A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here! jungle. For the Sherlock Holmes fans amongst you, you must be wondering what the play is actually about. Who better to ask than the leading man himself? – “In theory, Holmes is trying to find The Hound of the Baskervilles on the moors. There is a very long, involved story about a curse on a family, but ultimately that is pointless. It’s all about the deduction. It’s a really innovative, really funny play about Holmes’s methods of solving crimes, and audiences will love getting wrapped up in it.” But if you’re thinking how Sherlock Holmes can work as a comedy at all, Joe has an answer for that too, “The stories lend themselves to comic treatment. The relationship between Holmes and Watson is funny. Holmes is the master criminal hunter and Watson is his apprentice – there is great scope for comedy there. Look at Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes films – there is a lot of humour in them. Robert Downey Junior is a fantastic comic actor. We’re simply heightening what’s already there. It’s Monty Python meets Men Behaving Badly meets Sherlock Holmes.”
If that’s not a combination for a brilliant show then what is? It doesn’t stop there though and there is so much potential to further this ingenious venture. It looks like it’s already in talks according to Joe, “If this goes well, we’re talking about Ha Ha Hood!, Ha Ha Hitler!, Ha Ha Houdini!, Ha Ha Hamlet!, and Ha Ha Hobbit! Basically anything beginning with the letter H is fair game!” Happy to hear it!
Ha Ha Holmes! Wednesday 9th October Tickets: £20 Box Office: 01843 292795/296111 www.theatreroyalmargate.com www.hahaholmes.com