There’s something fishy about Common Ground
Posted on 9th January 2026
It’s that time of year again, when Common Ground Theatre – erudite and accomplished adapters of Poe, Coleridge, Dickens and Dostoevsky – go ever so slightly bonkers with a post-Christmas show that is rarely troubled by a coherent narrative or character development, preferring instead to cram as many sight gags, double entendres, costume changes, silly songs and straight forward lunatic fun as possible into their latest production Sherlock Holmes Smells Evil.
Julian Harries and Dick Mainwaring are such a perfect match for Holmes and Watson (no prizes for working out who played who) it’s a wonder it’s taken them five years to bring the pair back to the stage. On that occasion they faced the wrath of Dracula. This time, it was the equally terrifying prospect of investigating a health spa. In a signature Common Ground move, the head of the spa, Professor Eintrouser, was also played by Harries, requiring Mainwaring to do a lot of the heavy lifting when it came to investigating Queasy Pines Sanatorium while talking to a disembodied wig. Also required to play it relatively straight, he largely acted as a sounding board for not only the Professor, but the staff of the Sanatorium, played with exuberance by Bewley Dean Stanton and Joseph Ayland. Dean Stanton was particularly full-on, with a performance that brought to mind a youthful Matt Berry. Meanwhile, Aylward, happily cross dressing throughout, seemed most at home in the role of the flatulent Nurse Francine, proof positive that Pat Wymark’s determinably broad script aimed to tickle the funny bone of everyone.
We’ve got used to the Harries’s impressive set designs over the years, but a special nod is surely due to the fabulous costumes designed and presumably constructed by Faby Pym. Along the way we got a whole new definition of a spider-man, a mono trouser and a handsomely dressed fish, all wrapped up in the occasional puff of smoke. It all added up to a package that made very little sense, but then nonsense is what we expect from these shows that, for the large audiences they attract, are fast becoming an unmissable New Year tradition.