00:00Good afternoon, my name is Phil Hewitt, Group Art Editor at Sussex Newspapers. Now something
00:06really special is being hatched in Eastbourne this summer, running from the 1st of August to the 31st,
00:13it's the Hound of the Baskervilles at the Devonshire Park Theatre. Now what a pleasure
00:18to speak to Sherlock Holmes, aka Andrew Pollard. Now how do you approach Sherlock Holmes? Because
00:24we've all got our favourites, haven't we? We've all got our perceptions of what Sherlock Holmes
00:28should be and should do. How do you find your way into that character?
00:33Well I think often you, you know, you go with the scripts that you have, so that, you know,
00:39a particular writer will sort of tease out things. So you, especially in stage work, you
00:46kind of look at that first. Then I always do reading, you know, I always read around the subject
00:51and obviously read the story. And as a child, I loved the Basil Rathbone and Nigel Collins films.
01:00So I have that, which kind of helps in this, in this one, because we are slightly broader
01:05strokes because it is a comedy. And I think there was a lot more comedy teased out of
01:09those B pictures of the 30s and 40s, you know. But, you know, you also want to bring a little
01:15bit of depth to it. Well as you're saying, I think we're all influenced by the first Holmes
01:20that we saw and that happened to be Rathbone for you. What made Rathbone special, apart from
01:25being the first one you saw? I think it was, I mean, you know, it was slightly cartoony and it was,
01:32they were exciting films. You know, they were quite fast paced actually, because obviously those B
01:37movies are not very long. So tremendous pace to them. And just that thing as a kid, isn't it,
01:43you know, solving mysteries and crimes. You know, it's just an exciting sort of genre to, we all
01:50love, you know, somebody's been murdered, who did it, the old dark house or being on the Grimpen
01:55Mire, you know, with fog swirling, you know. And now here you are as Sherlock Holmes, but not just
02:02Sherlock Holmes, a few other characters as well. Yeah, I think I play, I haven't actually
02:07clocked it up, there's at least six characters I play, it's quite a lot. And that switching,
02:13how do you ensure that switching comes quickly enough? Well, I mean, it's all those things,
02:18a collaborative effort. There's a fantastic wardrobe team putting these things together.
02:22And, you know, already in the costume fittings, the conversation is how quickly can you get into
02:27this? How are you going to get into this? You know, which wig, what hat? So it is always a
02:31collective thing. And I'll come the show backstage, you know, my best friend will be the dresser,
02:39who's going to be helping me. I mean, I do panto as well and doing dame, and you're always jumping
02:45out of rocks. And you learn that there are two shows going on. There's the backstage show,
02:50and there's what's going on on stage. And it's as well choreographed backstage as it is on stage.
02:56Absolutely. So you have form in this, but the point is, as soon as you've got the wig,
03:00as soon as you've got the costume, that's a large part of the character then?
03:04It kind of is. But obviously, when you're rehearsing like this, you've got none of that.
03:08So for me, it is about what is the character, you know, you're trying to create physically,
03:14as well as vocally, something different every time, you know. So the costume undoubtedly helps
03:21and will undoubtedly help the audience. But as a me as a performer, I've got to find,
03:26you know, what those characters are. Fantastic. Well, I hope you have a fantastic
03:29summer as Sherlock, and lots of other people besides in the hands of the Baskervilles at
03:35the Dettinger Park Theatre in Eastbourne from August the 1st to the 31st. Lovely to speak to
03:40you. Thank you. You too.
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