★★★★☆
As far as we know, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle never envisioned his two famous detective characters, Sherlock Holmes and John Watson, as comedians. Oh no. At no stage did Doyle portray them as capable of slapstick routines, ear-splitting banter or tongue-twisting monologues.
Yet Melbourne’s comedy duo Innes Lloyd have unashamedly reinvented the two crime-busting partners into serial stooges of preposterous scenarios.
Thanks to them, the Melbourne International Comedy Festival’s 9pm show at Impro Melbourne Theatre is Holmes Unbound: The Lost Casebook of Sherlock Holmes. It’s a theatrical marvel that’s highly original and breathtakingly fast-paced.
The two star performers, David Innes and Rob Lloyd, pour out witticisms with alacrity. Fluffed lines pardoned and inside jokes with known audience members forgiven, the pair work with gusto to secure the backbone of their staging of mayhem. They are fearless in their buffoonary.
Their collaborators, Chloë Towan and Liliana Braumberger are versatile and flexible. They need to be, given the multitude of roles they switch between enacting the pantheon of other characters in the Homes and Watson universe: Moriarty, Colonel Warburton, Mrs Warburton and a host of other characters.
The lighting and sound by Jaklene Vukasinovic keep the presentation tight and measured in the middle of such a fast-moving performance.
However, the most impressive feature of the night is the three “never-written” Sherlock Holmes mysteries referenced by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Ricoletti of the Club Foot and His Abominable Wife, Colonel Warburton’s Madness, and The Giant Rat of Sumatra share the postmodern mission of separating form from substance.
The comic antics in the plot keep up the pretence that something meaningful has to be happening. All along, there’s nothing other than a preposterous plot and fanciful whodunnit conventions.
Yet…hanging over the hour’s performance, and threaded through the ‘fast facts’ interludes between the sketches, is the sheer iconic importance of Arthur Conan Doyle’s legendary creation. We glimpse for a fleeting moment how his novels and short stories give rise to over a century of creative endeavours – plays, films, television, board and video games.
And now we have Innes Lloyd’s contribution to the forensic line-up of memorable enactments. They deserve full applause for their comic interpretation of Holmes and Watson.
Like mysteries are timeless things that can appear out of nowhere, laughter has been known to erupt just as irresistibly.
Holmes Unbound: The Lost Casebook of Sherlock Holmes is presented by Innes Lloyd and runs to 5 April at the 2026 Melbourne International Comedy Festival. Impro Melbourne Theatre, 21 – 23 Stanley Street West Melbourne Vic 3003.
Grab your tickets here.
Website: https://www.inneslloyd.com.au/
Socials: https://www.instagram.com/inneslloyd/
Photo credits: Matthew Chen
