Super sleuth's last case

True to the spirit of Conan-Doyle's original Sherlock novels, Charles Marowitz's black comedy has all the drama and intrigue of a terrific detective story while at the same time poking fun at the super sleuth's eccentric personality.

Running at the Old Laundry for three weeks, Julian says that it's a challenge playing a character that people feel they know: "This time last year I played Noel Coward in the stage show Noel and Gertie and Adolf Hitler (in German) in a TV drama documentary. There is an initial hurdle to overcome in that audiences have a clear idea of how the character should look and sound. So you work at getting that right early on but then progress towards a fully rounded characterisation as you would with any other part, and try to forget about the 'impersonation' aspect of it."

Born in Leeds and brought up in Belfast, Julian was educated at Campbell College, Belfast. He went on to the University of Kent at Canterbury, studying Modern Languages, and then to the University of Erlangen in Germany.

His parents were very active in the amateur theatre scene and, he says, used to drag him and his younger brother along to see all their shows: "To begin with, that put me off, " explains Julian. "But then one of my teachers got me to read John Betjeman’s poem Christmas in front of the whole school, and something clicked. I got a kick out of making rows of people listen to me. On the strength of that, in my last term I was press-ganged into the school play - Shakespeare’s A Winter’s Tale - and a world of magic opened up."

Julian trained at the Webber Douglas Academy off Gloucester Road in London, which merged into Central School about 10 years ago.

His first professional role came long while he was still at drama school: "In those days you needed a provisional Equity Card to get started and, by an incredible stroke of luck, I bumped into an old university friend who had a Provisional Card available for a three week contract - which happened to coincide with my three week Easter break - in The Owl and the Pussycat, at the Adeline Genee Theatre, East Grinstead.

"I made the tea and played the Dong with the Luminous Nose, who is in love with the Jumbly Girl. It’s not easy to play love scenes with a whopping great battery powered lamp on the end of your nose and for some reason - this is the only time it’s ever happened to me - she and I loathed each other. What a beginning! But I got my grubby little hands on that card."

From there Julian did a lot of rep in Scotland, mainly in Edinburgh. "I stayed in the large terraced house of - I kid you not - Mr and Mrs Macbeth. No one was murdered in their beds, but you could write a novel about the occupants of that house, from the Polish professor whose wife was in the local asylum to the cleaning lady who spent much of her time drunk and asleep in a cupboard under the stairs."

Among Julian's most recent stage roles was playing an alcoholic Irish priest in Sting’s musical The Last Ship which British actors workshopped in his home town before it went to Broadway.

Julian says he's always been a character actor, and extremely difficult to typecast so he's never really felt able to 'shape' a career: "You just take what comes along, and there comes a point where you’re just glad you’re still going."

Among his many television appearances was on one of the nation's most popular soaps: "I was in EastEnders for a week, playing the judge in a murder trial, so I got to address Barbara Windsor very sternly from the bench. But the jury got the verdict wrong, so the Martin Kemp character was acquitted, and I sent an innocent man to prison.

"We were shooting in a very hot summer: I mainly remember Anna Carteret as a barrister being outrageously flirtatious between takes with a little portable fan. A year later, I returned to Walford 'off screen' when my wife and I provided the voice over for a German porn movie being watched by gangster friends of the Mitchell brothers. No one had a clue what we were saying, of course, except for the references to the size of the gentleman’s 'wurst.'"

As well as act he's also been in the director's chair - and won awards for doing it: "My wife and I ran a pub theatre in Greenwich which the Independent was kind enough to describe as 'one of Britain’s best fringe theatres.' We unearthed and adapted European plays that no one had heard of before, with large casts crammed into two tiny dressing rooms. No one was properly paid, but actors were spotted by casting directors and agents, so were rewarded in other ways. Some, like Eddie Marsan who was one of our regulars, have gone on to major screen careers. It was thrilling, but exhausting, especially when you’re trying to earn a living at the same time. Since then we have both done a lot of directing at drama schools in London, which we love."

Julian has never played the Old Laundry before but was given a glowing report about the excellent theatre from non other than the noble knight of playwrights Alan Ayckbourn.

Concluded Julian: "This will be my and my wife’s first proper visit to the Lakes and we are looking forward enormously to having time to explore once Sherlock is up and running."

Sherlock's Last Case runs from August 20-September 13.

Box office 08445-040604.