On the evening of June 11, Sherlock Holmes: The Sign of Four, an English play adapted from the work of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, was performed at Beihang Sunrise Concert Hall.

The Sign of Four is the second detective story written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and it is with this story that he made his name. It began with the visit of Miss Mary Morstan, whose father, once a colonizer in India, disappeared in 1878. She asked Holmes for help to solve the mystery of her father’s disappearance. Since then, Holmes and Dr. Watson set foot in a dark world full of deception and tricks and got involved in a complicated plot about murder, corruption and jewelry theft.

The play was produced by Blackeyed Theatre in association with New Theatre Royal Portsmouth and South Hill Park Arts Centre. Featuring original live music, it weaved romance and unique British humor into the thrilling detective story.

During the performance, Blackeyed Theatre achieved a stunning stage effect and built up the  tension permeating the original work by its careful stage design and arrangement of music and light. The actors depicted the process of solving the case with rich body language and the classic dialogues, enabling the audience to experience the disclosure of the truth. Besides, the translation with Chinese characteristics won one round of applause after another from the audience.

Blackeyed Theatre was established in 2004 by Adrian McDougall, its Artistic Director. It is a celebrated touring theatre in Britain, aiming to deliver surprising and inspiring performances loved by audience. Since its foundation, it has staged 19 productions, including The Great Gatsby, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Dracula, Teechers, Oedipus, A Christmas Carol, Blue Remembered Hills and so on, which received good reviews from the media. The theatre has performed in more than a hundred cities in Britain, the Republic of Ireland and the European continent.

Reported and Edited by Song Chao

Translated by Li Mingzhu