[Sherlock Holmes] The Legend of the Nightingale

(Nightingale's notes)

An interesting but unproductive week of rehearsal observations went well.Holmes was even suspiciously more interested in the new drama than he was in the case.He sat in the auditorium looking at the stage with fascination, uncharacteristically.I even think he temporarily forgot what the original purpose of coming was.And, to hell with his zero literary attainments, top student at Oxbridge.

What surprised me was also director Schlesinger himself.Sure enough, what I saw before was not his true colors.As soon as the scene lights came on, our seemingly rigid gentleman immediately became full of energy, and he was a different person, with a vigor that even young people in their twenties would be ashamed of.I couldn't believe my eyes the first time I saw him demonstrate the nuances of several ways to be insane to Crazy Lanfield (who seemed to have forgotten to record the character last time).In the next second, he straightened up again, straightened his collar, and turned back into that elegant gentleman.If I saw such a pair of bloodthirsty eyes on the street, I'm afraid I'd draw a gun.The level of Schlesinger himself surpassed that of any actor present, but in order to let everyone see it more clearly, he will deliberately exaggerate it to a funny effect when he demonstrates.

"Hey, Mr. Detective, what scene is it?" I gently pushed him.

"Act Three, Scene Two."

"Do you remember what we're here for?"

"remember."

"So what do you find among these actors who are on par with you?"

"I pretended not to understand what you were implying, Nightingale. When do you think the most appropriate time for a threatening letter to be sent backstage?"

"I know what you're trying to say. When there's no one backstage, or better yet, when the backstage is too busy for anyone to notice. But it's pointless if the director isn't the first to see it."

Holmes gestured to the seat next to him.I walked around a row of seats and sat next to him, looking up at the stage.The spooky castle scene has just ended, and now it's Mina and Lucy's rivalry.I leaned slightly towards Holmes to listen to his whisper.

"Has the handwriting identified anything?"

"Only their signatures on documents, some correspondence. Not all of them, just some of the actors who agreed to show their correspondence with the director. Nothing was found."

But we all know that consent to provide letters cannot be excluded.Anyone has the right to refuse, and even if the culprit is among the actors, as long as he is smart enough, he can boldly provide letters to gain trust.

"Every rehearsal they finish the whole scene. The most important thing is the last scene of the scene and the actors. The actors go back to the dressing room, and the stage will move everything backstage, unless the director has a chance to return to the stage. In the backstage, there will be no one. In order to prevent important things from being cleaned up by mistake, Director Schlesinger’s style is to never clean the backstage until the end is complete. Of course, actors and crews must carefully maintain the cleanliness of the backstage.”

"In this way, the possibility of being discovered by the field management is even greater."

"No, the scene managers often don't care about these little things. They have props for countless letters in the scene in the old castle. The envelope is imitating the existing props. They usually don't notice that there is one more in the pile of papers. Same. But director Schlesinger is amazingly good, he can even name every piece of paper that appears in the whole scene—you know more than I how many letters appear in this semi-epistolic book."

"countless."

"Yes. I said the sealer didn't have any patterns, and in the castle scene all Dracula's letters have his own stamp. Plus the number is wrong. Although I can't see too much from a dozen envelopes at a glance One, but at least Schlesinger recognized it at a glance."

"My dear Holmes, I want you to understand that this is far from us—well, you, and only you, this is far from the hardest case you have ever taken, and yet you have found nothing now. Can't tell me anything. You called me up from Manchester to see the same play every day. Well, not quite the same, Director Schlesinger is perfecting his lines every day. I can get all of their lines now Memorize it. I could memorize this book before watching these scenes."

"Sorry, Nightingale, we are not wasting time." Holmes glanced back at the clock in the theater.

"Mr. Detective Sherlock Holmes is sorry, but the audience, Sherlock Holmes, is indifferent."

No matter how much literature the Oxford student Sherlock Holmes had read or kept in his head, he had long since given it up.Now, sitting in the best seat in the theater, he has watched the adaptation of the horror novel that he considers the most rubbish in all literary works almost four times, and if he does not plan to take any action, he may watch it three more times all over.This style is so un-Holmes, this kind of thing will kill Holmes completely.This kind of madness is the classic Sherlock Holmes style - no matter what idea he has in his mind, as long as it is useful to solve the case, even if it will kill him, he will complete it meticulously, from beginning to end, and then looks at his coffin and sneers, let We'll call Scotland Yard and make sure the culprit goes to court before he can lay peacefully under six feet of dirt.

This natural and inexplicably generated metaphor made me feel even more sad, so I dismissed the idea.I would have liked to have found out the whole thing by myself, but unfortunately, Mr. Holmes, who had suddenly gone mad, forbade me to go out of his field of vision, or enter the backstage to interfere with the rehearsal of the actors.Speaking of this, I really admire Director Schlesinger. He continued the rehearsal without changing his face, as if he had no doubts about the success of the premiere.Someone else threatened his life with the premiere.

The last scene is finally over.Judging from the current situation, it might not be a problem for me to play the heroine.After a brief discussion between Director Schlesinger and the actors, he turned around and asked us:

"Does the audience have any questions?"

Holmes and I exchanged glances.

"Rehearsals generally have no audience other than the crew. No matter what ideas you have, they are valuable opinions." Schlesinger said.

"I have no say in the drama." Holmes smiled quickly, still looking straight ahead, and did not intend to speak again.The director turned his attention to me.

"You don't need any professional comments, Miss Nightingale, you just need to tell your most sincere feelings. Not everyone in the audience at the performance can say something about this play, so it's still polite."

It was not for this last reason that I decided to speak.

"I don't understand the script completely," I said, "but I have a rather genuine confusion. When Count Dracula stopped three little vampires from killing Jonathan, they said, 'You never loved '...Is that what you said?"

"'You never loved yourself. You didn't love at all.'" one of the three little vampires answered me.

"Yes, thank you, that's it. Then Count Dracula replied—"

"'I have loved, and of course I can. You should know that from your past.'" It was Mr. Reginald who answered.I refuse to call him Count Dracula, because even a bloodthirsty evil side should at least be an aristocratic evil side.This is the consequence of thinking of yourself as an esthete.Reginald was once widely regarded as a rookie, but rookies come and go, and it takes less than a month, or even a week, to be replaced by the next one at the earliest.And it doesn't look like Balin Reginald has become a theatrical star after all, or he wouldn't have been reduced to acting in a play that almost never got permission to star in, and it was recognized that it used blood to win cheap applause.Sorry, what I said just now is the most common view at present, not my personal opinion.I mean, Reginald's acting is creepy enough for the audience, and it fits the book, but it always feels a little bit off.

"Yes, that's it. Thank you, Mr. Reginald. I don't understand this conversation."

"Miss vampires, Count Dracula, you four answer this question."

The four of them looked at each other.

"We acted according to the rehearsal method." The little vampire who had just answered me replied.

"Then you should know why the rehearsal method is. Don't tell you that you have never understood these lines and have been acting until now."

"Never—explained in detail what it means," Reginald replied. "You know, every time you come here you say: You understand what this means. And then it's over. And it's all right, The effect has been very good, and you are not wrong."

"I didn't understand a word, and I didn't ask me after four rehearsals, but I acted so vividly, Mr. Reginald, well-deserved reputation."

Reginald actually smiled, and then felt that the director's words were not as friendly as they first sounded.

"Miss Nightingale, you can comment. Anyway, the few people who are considered to be the most authoritative here don't know anything about it."

I was silent for a while.Holmes stared at me out of the corner of his eye.

"I think all three little vampires were once Dracula's prey," I said, "like Mina later. If Dracula hadn't been hunted in the end, she would have become like this. Maybe gradually suck Fucking each of them is love to Dracula."

I heard my own voice echoing in the theater, too loud and too empty.A group of actors with heavy makeup and strange costumes stood on the stage and looked at me, but Schlesinger said nothing.I suddenly felt an inexplicable sadness. This desolate sadness spread around me and permeated the air of the theater.I looked on the stage and heard tears in my own echo.I glanced down at Holmes.He is also looking at me.Under the lamp, he was pale and calm, with a clear expression.

"Do you agree, Mr. Holmes?"

"From the story itself, I think it makes sense." Holmes' voice was calm and gentle, "And I think we can stop here today. Nightingale, I believe Mr. Director and the crew have a long talk to go on."

The author has something to say: I'm sorry that it's been so long and I haven't saved any manuscripts. I've been extremely busy during this time.Now the plot is in a transitional period, so I have been too lazy to code words, uh... and the consequences of being entangled in the title and racking my brains to make up random things.