Sherlock Holmes (Quinn Colon) dares anyone to fight her as Watson (Dina Lewis) ducks. (Photo by Sefanja R. Galon)
Sherlock Holmes bounds up and down the stage, her untidy light brown hair bouncing with each step. The world-famous fictional detective carries the air of a combined drama queen and over-caffeinated ADHD individual as she repeatedly speaks loudly, confidently and quickly.
One moment, Holmes chases someone around the room like a child overloaded on sugar. Another minute, she climbs atop a couch, brandishing a sword and daring someone to fight her.
What’s happening here? Elementary, dear reader – Sherlock (some call her Shirley, to her displeasure) is a character in playwright Kate Hamill’s decidedly different take on Sherlock Holmes.
Welcome to the wild and wacky Main Street Players’ (MSP) professional production of Hamill’s entertaining, sometimes funny, but imperfect play, “Ms. Holmes & Ms. Watson #2B.” The roughly two-and-a-half hour production, including intermission, runs through Sunday, Sept. 29 in MSP’s intimate black box theater space in Miami Lakes.
Four talented young performers, some playing multiple characters, offer intense performances that are varied and mostly believable under Sara Jarrell’s highly comic and physical direction. The performers are Quinn Colon as Holmes, Dina Lewis as Watson, and Nick Valdes as well as Danielle Zacarias playing multiple parts.
The actors and a crew of talented backstage artists deliver a production that is never boring but hard to follow at times due to the frenzied pace. If you read a plot summary of the complicated story before experiencing the production, it may help you follow along.
The year is 2021, and we’re at 221 Baker Street, Apartment 2B in London. American writer Joan Watson has moved to Great Britian for a reason that the playwright never makes clear. The landlady, Mrs. Hudson (a convincingly nervous and clumsy Zacarias) tells Watson that she will share the apartment with Sherlock (not Shirley!) Holmes, an eccentric deductive consultant.
Nick Valdes, who portrays multiple characters, appears in a scene as Sherlock Holmes (Quinn Colon) and Watson (Dina Lewis) confer in the background. (Photo by Sefanja R. Galon)
Holmes, likely due to her genius, can tell immediately that Watson is a medical doctor, although she denies being a physician for a reason that is never clear.
Shortly after Watson moves in with Holmes, Scottland Yard’s Inspector Lestrade (Valdes) arrives to Apartment 2B. The inspector needs Holmes’ genius to solve a murder in which authorities found a married man dead in a hotel bathtub.
Before long, the dead man’s widow, as well as a blackmailed Texan running for a Senate seat, and a femme fatale arrive on scene. Can Holmes and Watson help Scottland Yard solve the several crimes before them?
“Ms. Holmes & Ms. Watson #2B,” which needs more focus, is nevertheless a fresh, feminist take on the beloved detective (a sign on Danny Nieves’ detailed set reads “Women Working.”) Black letters appear against a red background for emphasis.
Surely, the piece presents a pair of strong female characters during a time when society marginalizes too many women. But portraying Sherlock as a constantly loud and hyperactive individual with hardly any nuance does little to flesh out the famed detective’s character.
To be sure, the actor who portrays Holmes in MSP’s production, Quinn Colon, is undoubtedly talented. They have not only memorized a ton of lines, but have internalized this character.
Truly, Colon never misses a beat in this physically and mentally demanding and probably draining role. Colon commands the stage without showing off, begging for laughs, or drowning out the other performers. Also, Colon is nimble, vivacious, and their comic timing is spot on. Still, you wish for a more multi-faceted portrayal.
Watson (Dina Lewis) and Holmes (Quinn Colon) do not always see eye to eye (Photo by Sefanja R. Galon)
In some ways, Watson serves as a foil character to Holmes, and Dina Lewis clearly differentiates her from the detective. While Colon’s Holmes is largely over-the-top, Lewis portrays Watson with impressive restraint. Often, Lewis believably conveys various traits with, for instance, a vivid facial expression or folding her arms.
Watson, Sherlock’s famous partner in the detective’s investigations, is not doing well when Hamill’s play opens. In particular, she is recently divorced, lost her job as a physician and is looking to feel calm and whole once again. The pandemic has taken a toll on this woman, and you can’t help but wish her better times ahead.
Lewis’s vivid facial expressions of emotional pain and anxiety vividly convey how much her character is hurting. But the performer also shows us glimpses of the kind of woman Watson may have been before the pandemic. For instance, at times, Lewis conveys an ingratiating charm as Watson. The playwright could have further fleshed her out by, for example, revealing why she moved to Great Britain and revealing when and why she became a writer.
While Holmes and Watson are friends, they annoy each other at times. And the strong chemistry between Colon and Lewis gives us an endearing odd couple who are often competitive with each other but, deep down, like each other.
While we learn things about the other characters, revealing too much here might spoil surprises. We can say that Zacarias imbues Irene Adler with a mysteriously seductive air that never feels forced. And Valdes makes an ingratiating narrator and displays a flair for the dramatic in his multiple roles.
Behind the scenes, with a small area with which to work, Nieves includes impressive detail in his set design of 221 Baker Street, Apt 2B. Obviously, from the skull, skeleton and other such items in the set, such as a “Phantom of the Opera” poster, we can deduce that Holmes and/or Watson enjoy horror and drama. We learn that Holmes is quite cultured; she can quote from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, for instance. Hamill’s references to the classics in her play should delight culture lovers who come to experience MSP’s production.
The design for 221 Baker St., Apt. 2B remains onstage even when scenes take place elsewhere. But with the inclusion of merely one or more additional items, the set designer suggests another location. Besides, we can use our imagination to fill in the blanks, which is something that live theater audiences must do from time to time.
Also, behind the scenes, Roderick Randle designed the sound. Realistic effects, such as thunder, reinforce the drama, while Ricky J. Martinez’s ominous lighting enhances mood. Also, credit Martinez for fight choreography that makes stage combat scenes look energized and real.
Meanwhile, Elizabeth Gonzalez’s costumes clothe the actors in outfits that are character revealing.
Hamill is an award-winning playwright with a passion for new feminist, female-centered works. Her plays are also theatrical, and she is a clever writer. She uses, for instance, alliteration in this play to enliven her text. But she could have focused this piece by not including so many stories by Sherlock Holmes author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Including just one of the stories, about an unethical politician from Texas and his dilemma with a sex tape, would have not only narrowed the focus, but would have captured today’s zeitgeist. Also, the ending needs work; it’s too vague.
However, the playwright has taken a classic and fashioned it into a sometimes comical, refreshingly modern, feminist adaptation that speaks to us in 2024.
IF YOU GO
- WHAT: Ms. Holmes & Ms. Watson Apt. 2B by Kate Hamill.
- WHEN: Through Sunday, Sept. 29. Performances are at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday as well as 2 p.m. Sunday.
- WHERE: Main Street Playhouse, 6812 Main St. in Miami Lakes.
- TICKETS: $30. Call (305) 558-3737 or go to www.mainstreetplayers.com.
