Edinburgh Fringe 2025
The Baker Street Ladies
Slade Wolfe Enterprises
Genre: Theatre
Venue: The Space Edinburgh - Annex, Symposium Hall
Festival: Edinburgh Fringe
Low Down
An interesting one woman show which captures the imagination of the audience with a charismatic performance
Review
The Baker Street Ladies is a one woman show based on three important women in Sherlock Holmes’s life. It’s brought to life by Slade Wolfe Enterprises, and was written and performed by Lexi Wolfe.
The first character that we meet, Mrs Hudson, sets the scene. Her costume immediately reminds us that we are in the Victorian era. However, the most successful parts of the portrayal include the mannerisms, facial expressions and the walk which Lexi Wolfe has so successfully created. She brings an endearing sense of nostalgia to the woman – she complains about Mr Holmes constantly, but it is clear she has a huge amount of affection for him. Everyone will know a woman similar to Mrs Hudson, and she so effectively reminds us of a traditional grandmother. The “lighter” elements of the character portrayal – such as the humour added in the section – support the play to be more well rounded and effective as a whole, as it contrasts with what is to come. Her feather duster in particular added much hilarity to the portrayal.
Lexi Wolfe’s portrayal of Mary Watson is so different to Mrs Hudson it is easy to forget that the actor is the same person.
The emotion evoked on listening to Mary Watson was so deep. There was a story in particular about an important date that had been forgotten which left several audience members in tears. Wolfe created a completely different, well defined character who we immediately warmed to. We wanted to comfort her, and make her feel better. This came about by a combination of good script, changes and variations in tone of voice and the use of facial expressions as opposed to vocal noises – we were able to feel her pain and see it written on her face.The use of levels was effective – at one point she was stood up and made direct eye contact with the audience, and at other times she was sat in the arm chair. The only consideration with this character was at the beginning – the character presented as being distressed/ panicky. She sat sideways onto the chair, which while making logical sense prevented some of us from seeing her facial expressions.
Following on from Mary Watson, we met Irene Adler. Again, Wolfe effortlessly successfully transitions into a completely different character. The costume admittedly support this – but it runs deeper. The accent has changed, the walk altered, the facial mannerisms again altered to create a totally different character with great effect.
The performance was deepened by the intimacy developed by the staging. It was blocked so that we were also in the room, waiting for Mr Holmes and we were engaged with. Eye contact was made and we were spoken to – but equally this was not an audience participation piece. The eye contact and decision that we were in the room included us more, and it captured more of our attention.
In order to develop this performance further, perhaps it could be considered condensing the performance. It seemed to lose pace and momentum towards the end, which could potentially be eliminated by doing this.
However, this piece was a very interesting portrayal of three important women in Sherlock Holmes’s life. It had been clearly and effectively prepared and made for very interesting and enjoyable viewing.
