REVIEWS

FIVE STARS! -- EDINBURGH EVENING NEWS(UK)
On the trail of a good show? It’s Elementary

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle would turn over in his grave. Not in irritation or anger, but to get a better view of the stage in the Gilded Balloon. A writer as clever and insightful as he couldn’t fail to be as impressed as the audience was with Sound & Fury’s newest play, Sherlock Holmes and the Saline Solution.
The three Americans who make up Sound & Fury- Shelby Bond, Vincent Cardinale and founder Richard Maritzer- previously visited the Capital last year where their take on Cyrano de Bergerac won them well-deserved five-star reviews. This year doesn’t look to be any different. The pace of the show is as fast as ever, the dialogue as witty and as often improvised, but most importantly, the quality is as good or better.
For innocent audience member Angie Rayner, it was a show and a half to remember. Plucked from the audience (hint: don’t sit in the front few rows if you’re shy), with a script hastily thrust into her hand, she brilliantly augmented the three stars for a wonderfully madcap scene. The fact that she actually said the word “gasp” each time the script instructed her to gasp only added comedy value.
Of course, the main responsibility for laughs fell on the boys, and they didn’t drop the ball once. It would be hard to imagine anyone so grumpy and miserable that they weren’t won over by the comic genius of the trio.
The story centred around the dastardly murder of Sir Fistulous Withers, played lovingly and with much conviction by a blow-up doll. Holmes and Watson are naturally on the case, but which is which? And if they don’t know, then who is going to solve the murder? And what has the nature of space and time to do with the Victorian goings-on?
Each of the team brings a different quality of natural humor to the show, while together they add up to a strange variation on The Goodies. The argument that Americans don’t understand irony is completely debunked here, as these goodies play with language and comedy forms with all the panache and clever wit of the best British comedy writers of the 20th century.
There are a great many must-see shows in the fringe, many well-known comedy faces that have to be seen, but it’s unlikely that you’ll laugh more at any of them than in this inspired hour of humor.
--Martin Christie

FOUR STARS! -- CHORTLE (UK)
For sheer exuberant silliness, you won't find much to top this hugely likable American trio's farcical murder mystery, although Christ knows what Sir Arthur Conan Doyle would have to say about it all.
Richard Maritzer, Shelby Bond and Vinnie Cardinale present an enjoyably irreverent portrait of British fiction's best loved super-sleuth as he investigates the sudden death of Sir Fistulous Withers, in mysterious circumstances.
It's informal from the off. The boys banter with the audience as we filter in and we witness a staged to-do between them which results in the part of Holmes being played by the cheerfully idiotic Bond, instead of the better prepared Maritzer. It's a simple but ingenious device that provides a solid foundation of easy laughs on which to build.
You know the sort of thing; at the scene of the crime, Holmes is completely at a loss as to what a knife might be doing on the floor. ‘Perhaps it matches the slicey holes on the body?’ Watson offers wearily.
The humour builds steadily as the plot thickens (or rather, gets more convoluted) and the three gallop through drawing rooms, music halls and warehouses, Cardinale turning his hand with admirable panache to playing the associated butlers, Victorian ladies and baddies.
The buffoonery is unremitting – an out-of-character Holmes tries to tell the audience whodunnit to save time; Cardinale delivers a parcel of curtains to an unfortunate fellow; a blow-up doll stands in for the part of the victim. But it's underpinned by a strong theatrical skill and a pacey, clever script packed with smart-arse wordplay.
It's impossible to accurately convey in words what an infectiously riotous piece of nonsense this is, just go see it.
Date of live review: Friday 21st Aug, '09
-- Nione Meakin

FOUR STARS! -- THE LIST (UK)
American comedy trio take on Victorian London
With the foreboding spectre of a Guy Ritchie-directed Sherlock Holmes film being released later this year, American comedy trio Sound and Fury’s new show (Sherlock Holmes and the Saline Solution) is a welcome DIY send-up of literature’s most famous detective. The plot itself is loosely developed but contains all the right elements: the murdered body of a rich London man, a damsel in distress, an encounter with opium and, finally, some sense of resolution.
The effects are a delightfully silly mix of the smutty and the literary, making this a worthy successor to the group’s 2008 hit Cyranose. But be warned; this might be a murder mystery of sorts but the Victorian whodunit takes a backseat to the performers’ effortless charm. Under their ruthlessly energetic control, Shelby Bond’s Sherlock is a bumbling figure, guided only by Richard Maritzer’s slightly less clueless Watson, while Vinny Cardinale occupies nearly every peripheral part with tireless animation. Moreover, the trio’s forays into the audience maintain a spontaneous atmosphere throughout and their infectious enthusiasm makes this one of the cheeriest comedies you’re likely to see this month.

FIVE STARS!
Sherlock Holmes and the Saline Solution is ridiculously entertaining and about as much fun as I have ever had at a Fringe show. Ever.
The three Los Angelenos of Sound & Fury bring such an inspired sense of playfulness and silliness to the table, it's impossible to remain immune. Their gags come steadily and rapidly; their timing is impeccable; and their instincts for how long a joke can be stretched are perfectly calibrated. Friday night's sold-out crowd laughed as often and as loud as I've heard at any show.
Sound & Fury are making their fifth appearance at the Winnipeg Fringe and promise as long as we keep laughing and clapping they'll keep coming back.
I beg you: keep them coming back.
-- Dean Jenkinson, CBC

FIVE STARS!
Richard Maritzer, Shelby Bond and Vinny Cardinale had a large first-night turn-out of Sound & Fury fans in uproarious laughter before they even began their performance. In turn, the three were having a hard time stifling their smiles and giggles as everyone on both sides of the footlights at the Gas Station Theatre enjoyed themselves.
As they have done to much hilarity with the Bard's plays, the Los Angeles-based troupe lampooned Sherlock Holmes and give it a typical Sound & Fury twist. Leading man Maritzer got tricked out of playing Holmes by Bond, who dons the great fictional detective's deerstalker cap and portrays him as a dim-witted goof. "The game is afeet," enthuses Bond. Maritzer is demoted to the role of Dr. Watson, but plays his character as the much sharper sleuth.
Throughout the show, the local favourites added asides (a joke about Confusion Corner brought down the house) and generally had a ball with sexual double entendres and Sherlockian satire.
-- Kevin Prokosh, Winnipeg Free Press

FOUR STARS!
WATSON? They're on.
Let's get this out of the way: this is a very silly show. Bad puns, throwaway lines and cheap shots dominate a parody of a Sherlock Holmes investigation. Other shows have been caned for these same characteristics, but they weren't Sound and Fury. The problem is, they're nice guys – they come out and chat before the show before throwing up an easily-permeated fourth wall – and are enjoying themselves too much to write them off. And by that time, you're enjoying yourself too much to be critical. But if you look beyond the gags, beyond the quick costume changes and plot convolutions, you'll see three talented Americans with quick wits and an excellent understanding of working an audience. Definitely a highlight of a guffaw nature.
-- Russell Emmerson, The Advertiser (Adelaide, Australia)

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