The Crucifer of Blood

The Crucifer of Blood is a play by Paul Giovanni that is adapted from the Arthur Conan Doyle story The Sign of the Four. It depicts the character Irene St. Claire hiring the detective Sherlock Holmes to investigate the travails that her father and his three compatriots suffered over a pact made over a cursed treasure chest in colonial India during the Indian Rebellion of 1857.

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Broadway production

The play, directed by the author, opened on Broadway at the Helen Hayes Theatre on September 28, 1978 and ran for 236 performances.

The production was nominated for four Tony Awards including Giovanni for Best Direction of a Play and won the award for Roger Morgan's lighting design. It also received Drama Desk Awards for Morgan as well as for John Wulp's scenic design.

Cast

Paxton Whitehead - Sherlock Holmes
Glenn Close - Irene St. Claire
Christopher Curry - Jonathan Small
Andrew Davis - Mohammed Singh & Mordecai Smith
Martin LaPlatney - Hopkins
Timothy Landfield - John Watson, M.D.
Melvin Lum - Fung Tching, A Chinaman
Tuck Milligan - Wali Dad & Birdy Johnson
Roumel Reaux - Tonga
Dwight Schultz - Major Alistair Ross
Nicolas Surovy - Captain Neville St. Claire
Edward Zang - Durga Dass & Inspector Lestrade

London production

The play, directed by the author, opened in London at the Theatre Royal Haymarket on March 15, 1979 and ran for 397 performances.

Cast[1]

Keith Michell - Sherlock Holmes
Susan Hampshire - Irene St. Claire
Nicholas Day - Jonathan Small
Geoffrey Snell - Mohammed Singh & Mordecai Smith
James Curran - Hopkins
Denis Lill - John Watson, M.D.
Klim Leh T'Chei - Fung Tching, a Chinaman
Billy McColl - Wali Dad & Birdy Johnson
Reis Etan - Tonga
John Quentin - Major Alistair Ross
Edward Petherbridge - Captain Neville St. Claire
John Cater - Durga Dass & Inspector Lestrade

Los Angeles production

The play, directed by the author, premiered in Los Angeles at the Ahmanson Theatre in the Los Angeles Music Center on December 5, 1980 and ran through January 17, 1981. A notable feature of this production was that Jeremy Brett, who later became one of the most famous impersonators of Sherlock Holmes, played Dr. Watson.

Cast[1]

Charlton Heston - Sherlock Holmes
Suzanne Lederer - Irene St. Claire
Christopher Curry - Jonathan Small
J. Christopher O'Connor - Mohammed Singh
Richard Denison - Hopkins
Jeremy Brett - John Watson, M.D.
Liu Han T'Seng - Fung Tching, a Chinaman
Ronald Dennis - Tonga
Dwight Schultz - Major Alistair Ross
Ian Abercrombie - Durga Dass & Inspector Lestrade
Alan Coates - Captain Neville St. Claire
Tuck Milligan - Wali Dad & Birdy Johnson
C. Edward Pogue - Mordecai Smith

Film

The play was filmed for Turner Network Television and first broadcast on November 4, 1991. The cast featured Heston as Holmes, Richard Johnson as Watson, John Castle as St. Clair, Edward Fox as Ross, Simon Callow as Inspector Lestrade, and Susannah Harker as Irene St. Claire, and was directed by Heston's son Fraser Clarke Heston.

References

External links