‘Ms. Holmes & Ms. Watson: Apt. 2B’ features a feminist twist on the murder mystery at Playhouse on Park
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
Freelance theater director Kelly O’Donnell’s website says she is “passionate about women’s stories, re-imagined classics, mischievous satires, bilingual theatre, intergenerational theatre and stories that examine the nuances of gender dynamics and class struggles.”
Two shows that O’Donnell directed for West Hartford’s Playhouse on Park, the historical drama “The Agitators” (about Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass) and the Yiddish theater saga “Indecent” certainly covered most of those items. So, interestingly, does the mystery farce “Ms. Holmes and Ms. Watson: Apt. 2B,” which O’Donnell is directing Jan. 24 through Feb. 18 at Playhouse on Park.
“It does check the boxes of a lot of things I like,” O’Donnell said. “These are two people from very, very different places with very different skills. But they’re a perfect match for each other because they need each other.”
The comedy updates Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes and John Watson characters, makes them women and has them live in present-day London apartments.
“It mixes a bunch of the best-known stories and some of the most popular narrative threads and weaves them into a new narrative,” O’Donnell said. “Watson is a doctor who worked during the COVID pandemic. She’s trying to erase that trauma, while Sherlock doesn’t really experience trauma. To her, everything has an end game, a solution.”
The play is by Kate Hamill, one of the most produced playwrights in America who is best known for her literary adaptations of Jane Austen books. Playhouse on Park, Hartford Stage and the Long Wharf Theatre have all staged Hamill’s version of “Pride & Prejudice.”
“I first saw Kate Hamill’s work in 2016: ‘Sense & Sensibility,’ off-off-Broadway,” O’Donnell recalled. “She reinvented Jane Austen. I was inspired by the soul of that production. Kate Hamill’s work is smart, witty and whimsical. She knows showbiz.”
O’Donnell emphasized that Hamill “also puts women’s voices front and center. With this play, she takes a very male-dominated story and flips expectations. What if it were a woman?”
“There’s fast-paced, snappy dialogue,” she said, “but it’s important that with all the pratfalls and face slaps, there’s also some real heart. It also works as a mystery. Kate Hamill is one of those people who can safely translate literature to live theater. Her plays are a celebration of what theater is.”
O’Donnell has done three shows in three years at Playhouse on Park. “I went to college with Sean Harris, who’s one of the artistic directors, and we stayed friends. I love working with them,” she said.
In New York, O’Donnell has worked with such revered progressive theater directors as Anne Bogart, Tina Landau and John Rando. She is a co-founder of Flux Theatre Ensemble, the New York troupe dedicated to “transformative theater that explores and awakens the capacity for change,” though she is no longer an active member.
At Playhouse on Park, Sherlock Holmes is played by Kirsten Peacock, who played Halina in O’Donnell’s production of “Indecent.” Joan Watson is played by Kelly Letourneau, who was in the Playhouse on Park production of Hamill’s “Pride & Prejudice”.
As with many of Hamill’s plays, some actors play multiple characters. In “Ms. Holmes & Ms. Watson,” everybody except the title characters is played by either Megan McDermott or Nick Nudler. They are both making their playhouse debuts. Nudler was seen locally in numerous shows when he was an MFA theater student at UConn.
As for the original Conan Doyle Sherlock Holmes adventures, “I didn’t grow up reading them. Other than the Benedict Cumberbatch series, ” O’Donnell said. “I have no real experience with the stories, but my wife is a big fan.”
“Ms. Holmes & Ms. Watson: Apt. 2B” runs Jan. 24 through Feb. 18 at Playhouse on Park, 244 Park Rd., West Hartford. Performances begin with three previews Jan. 24 at 7:30 p.m. and Jan. 25 at 2 and 7:30 p.m. ($25), then Jan. 26 through Feb. 18 with shows Tuesdays at 2 p.m., Wednesdays and Thursdays at 7:30 p.m., Fridays at 8 p.m., Saturdays at 2 and 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. ($45-$55; $42.50-$52.50 for seniors, students and military). playhouseonpark.org.
