Sherlock takes to Edinburgh alleys to solve murder

EDINBURGH (Reuters Life!) - To the bemusement of bewildered passers-by, Sherlock Holmes strides along the ancient streets of Edinburgh hunting for a murderer.

And the famous detective in the deerstalker hat has quite a following -- 50 avid fans of "walking theatre" trying with Holmes to find the killer of Old Man McCarthy.

Come rain or shine, sleuths and suspects prowl the cobbled streets with their devoted followers at the Edinburgh Fringe, the world's largest arts festival.

The Fringe delights in quirky venues and offbeat shows and "Sherlock Holmes: Murder in the Garden" scores top points on both scores as the audience follows the players around the Scottish capital.

It is all great fun with the crowd reveling in the surreal locations that range from a Mexican restaurant to an Edinburgh park, scene of the grisly murder.

Children sunning themselves in the park gape in astonishment at the body lying prone in the grass with a bloodied rock beside it.

The perambulating players are the brainchild of Ginger Perkins, a vivacious Californian who is Artistic Director of Frantic Redhead Productions and a 25-year veteran of the Edinburgh Fringe.

She delights in showing visitors corners of Edinburgh they might never have stumbled on by themselves.

"It's fun, it's unique and it sells tickets," the Los Angeles-based director told Reuters before shepherding her theatrical flock around the town.

"The audience loves it as it gives them close and immediate access to the actors and all the action," she said.

The actors all stay firmly in character as the audience follows them faithfully around with detective fans puzzling over the who, why and how of the murder.

But the Fringe 2007 is an emotional occasion for Ginger Perkins. She is hanging up her theatrical walking boots after a quarter of a century at the festival.

"This is the last time Frantic Redhead's Sherlock Holmes will be walking the streets of London," she said, weary at 57 of all the bureaucracy she now has to deal with staging her unique street theatre.

And she will be enormously relieved not to be gazing nervously at the heavens each day.

"As I watch the skies every day wondering if it is going to rain, I am not going to miss all of that.

"All of my shows are outside. So I wake up every morning and think 'Oh My Gosh what is the weather going to be'".

On Wednesday the sun was smiling and so were the audience. After traipsing for 90 minutes around the packed and bustling streets of Edinburgh, all was revealed by Sherlock Holmes.

And the cast were all smiles as they took their open-air curtain call in a cobbled courtyard after the murderer was revealed with one last twist.