Ms Holmes & Ms Watson - Apt 2B by Kate Hamill - 1m, 3w
An irreverent, darkly comic, modern take on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous sleuth and sidekick. This fast-paced romp re-examines the world’s most famous detective story with a bold new feminist lens. In this highly theatrical, small-cast escapade, oddball female roommates Sherlock (yes, it’s also a girl’s name - wait, is it a girl’s name? Is it even a name?) Holmes & Joan Watson join forces to emerge from pandemic fog as a deeply codependent, quasi-dysfunctional Odd Couple adventure duo—solving mysteries and kicking butts, until they come face to face with a villain who seems to have all of the answers.
Labels: adaptation, comedy
posted by Jim Vogel at 6:22 PM
5 Comments:
I think the audiences would love this. It is witty, fast-paced, full of action and a mystery to boot! There is a lot of blood. And guns. And it must run over 2 1/2 hours. But I'd say yes.
Silly. It's not the kind of comedy I like. I'll pass on it.
I think the play is very much dependent on having the right director and actors. The fast pace and all the jokes can make it very funny and entertaining. With carefully selected actors with good chemistry combined with right timing, tone of voice and body language, it can be a very successful performance. If not, the risk is that it feels forced and exaggerated.
This is another script by Kate Hamill, and we have certainly enjoyed her other plays. She has a charming way of taking classical pieces and turning them a bit sideways with high energy and wit. I think this would be an audience pleaser, and the familiarity of the characters in the title would attract an audience. I love her description in the title "Cheerfully desecrating the stories of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle." Of course, we are also considering her "Pride and Prejudice," so we wouldn't consider two Kate Hamills in one season, but could keep one or the other in the mix. We haven't been able to do Holmes plays because we have accepted that Park Square seems to have "a corner on the market" when it comes to Holmes. So this script would give us a wonderful opportunity to venture into the Holmes realm, not to mention giving female identifying actors a shot at the delicious roles of Holmes and Watson. There are certainly some technical challenges, but I believe we should leave it up to directors to consider whether they are insurmountable or not when they are deciding whether they would like to direct the play. I could very easily see ways to stage it in the round. (Likewise, the play may be somewhat questionably dated as far as the "Elliot Monk" character scene is concerned, and I would be curious to inquire of Ms. Hamill if she has considered rewriting that scene based on recent events.) I enjoyed the script and believe it could be successful so I think we should keep it in the mix.
Oh, I'm so torn on this one. I'd like to say that I didn't really like it, but I chuckled. A lot. And I could picture it appealing to a wide range of theatre goers. It seems like a good show to encourage TRP's core audience to bring a new comer to and everyone would leave having been entertained.
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