The Crucifer of Blood
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The Crucifer of Blood is a play by Paul Giovanni that is adapted from the Arthur Conan Doyle novel The Sign of the Four. It depicts the character Irene St. Claire hiring the detective Sherlock Holmes to investigate the travails that her father and his three compatriots suffered over a pact made over a cursed treasure chest in colonial India during the Indian Rebellion of 1857.
Broadway production[]
The play, directed by the author, opened on Broadway at the Helen Hayes Theatre on September 28, 1978 and ran for 236 performances.
The production was nominated for four Tony Awards, including Giovanni for Best Direction of a Play, and won the award for Roger Morgan's lighting design. It also received Drama Desk Awards for Morgan as well as for John Wulp's scenic design. Bran Ferren received the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle award for Special Visual & Sound Effects.[1]
Cast[]
- Paxton Whitehead - Sherlock Holmes
- Glenn Close - Irene St. Claire
- Christopher Curry - Jonathan Small
- - Mohammed Singh & Mordecai Smith[2]
- - Hopkins
- - John Watson, M.D.
- - Fung Tching, A Chinaman
- Tuck Milligan - Wali Dad & Birdy Johnson
- - Tonga
- Dwight Schultz - Major Alistair Ross
- - Captain Neville St. Claire
- - Durga Dass & Inspector Lestrade
London production[]
The play, directed by the author, opened in London at the Theatre Royal Haymarket on March 15, 1979 and ran for 397 performances. Denis Lill who played Dr. Watson, would later go on to play Inspector Bradstreet in Sherlock Holmes (1984 TV series).
Cast[3][]
- Keith Michell - Sherlock Holmes
- Susan Hampshire - Irene St. Claire
- Nicholas Day - Jonathan Small
- - Mohammed Singh & Mordecai Smith
- - Hopkins
- Denis Lill - John Watson, M.D.
- - Fung Tching, a Chinaman
- Billy McColl - Wali Dad & Birdy Johnson
- - Tonga
- - Major Alistair Ross
- Edward Petherbridge - Captain Neville St. Claire
- John Cater - Durga Dass & Inspector Lestrade
Los Angeles production[]
The play, directed by the author, premiered in Los Angeles at the Ahmanson Theatre in the Los Angeles Music Center on December 5, 1980 and ran through January 17, 1981. A notable feature of this production was that Jeremy Brett, who later became one of the most famous portrayers of Sherlock Holmes, played Dr. Watson.
Cast[3][]
- Charlton Heston - Sherlock Holmes
- Jeremy Brett - John Watson, M.D.
- - Irene St. Claire
- Christopher Curry - Jonathan Small
- - Mohammed Singh
- - Hopkins
- - Fung Tching, a Chinaman
- - Tonga
- Dwight Schultz - Major Alistair Ross
- Ian Abercrombie - Durga Dass & Inspector Lestrade
- Alan Coates - Captain Neville St. Claire
- Tuck Milligan - Wali Dad & Birdy Johnson
- - Mordecai Smith
Film[]
The play was filmed for Turner Network Television and first broadcast on November 4, 1991. The cast featured Charlton Heston as Holmes, Richard Johnson as Watson, Clive Wood as Small, John Castle as St. Clair, Edward Fox as Ross, Simon Callow as Inspector Lestrade, Susannah Harker as Irene St. Claire, Stefan Kalipha as Wali Dad, as Durga Das, and as Birdy Johnson, and was directed by Heston's son Fraser Clarke Heston.
References[]
- ^ "Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle - 1980 - 1989 LADCC Awards". 2009-02-10. Archived from the original on 2009-02-10. Retrieved 2017-06-14.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
- ^ Andrew Davis - IBDB
- ^ a b Vol. 3, Section 10K, Actors, Performances and Recordings-Plays, C20172 Through C20489
External links[]
- American plays
- Works based on Sherlock Holmes
- Sherlock Holmes films
- Plays based on novels
- Broadway plays
- 1978 plays
- Television series produced at Pinewood Studios
- Films directed by Fraser Clarke Heston