Professor David Peimer
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Summary
“When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.” - Sherlock Holmes
What makes Sherlock Holmes so endearing and enduring? Why do we still admire his character today?
Professor David Peimer
David Peimer is a professor of theatre and performance studies in the UK. He has taught at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, and New York University (Global Division), and was a Fulbright Scholar at Columbia University. Born in South Africa, David has won numerous awards for playwriting and directing. He has written eleven plays and directed forty in places like South Africa, New York, Brussels, London, Berlin, Zulu Kingdom, Athens, and more. His writing has been published widely and he is the editor of Armed Response: Plays from South Africa (2009) and the interactive digital book Theatre in the Camps (2012). He is on the board of the Pinter Centre in London.
Yeah, I go to Downey Jr. And I know that’s maybe a bit controversial, but that’s fine, you know, but because I think he brings in more irony and wit, and I think he brings in a bit of a physicality. It’s also the director and the filmmaker. And I think that makes it a bit more of an overall archetype, for me, of these qualities of a bit of a Odysseus from Homer, a bit of a James Bond, a bit of, you know, a whole lot of things in one archetype. Maybe it’s, you know, closer to me, my generation, I don’t know yours, but somehow… I don’t know. That’s my reason.
Ah, I love it, because it’s classic. In film jargon, it’s called the buddy story, where you know, you have the main detective, the main cop, the main criminal, with the sidekick. So you always have the main character and the sidekick, and that’s known as the buddy-buddy story in Hollywood jargon, or film jargon and TV, but it goes back to novels as well. And I love it, that Holmes has the sidekick who is a doctor and Watson, and you know, I’ve got they’re lots of… It’s so witty, the interplay, quick and sharp between the two of them, you know, and there’s a clear platonic, almost sort of love between them, while Holmes is constantly playing at putting him down, but not really.
Quite possibly. Great thought. I think that’s really interesting, your insight there, Ron.