Never Jump to Kittens: A Ms. Holmes & Ms. Watson - APT. 2B Review

Ms. Holmes & Ms. Watson - APT. 2B at Playhouse on Park

Director Kelly O’ Donnell steers West Hartford’s Playhouse on Park’s production of Kate Hamill’s Ms. Holmes & Ms. Watson- APT. 2B into success. This hilarious and brilliantly cast show pokes fun at the age old rivalry between Britain and America while quipping through the rigmarole of a day in the life of a deductive consultant or professional hypothesizer. Ms. Holmes & Ms. Watson APT. 2B takes on the beloved dynamic of Holmes and Watson’s adventures, but set today, and also London during a post-Covid spring 2021.

Watson’s very American Eat. Pray. Love attempt melds together with Holmes’ undoubtedly British Nancy Drew sleuthing when Watson (Kelly Letourneau) moves into apartment 2B after retreating from her normal life in the states, descending upon the organized chaos that is the life of Sherlock Holmes (Kirsten Peacock). Holmes feints and Watson parries from the moment they meet in apartment 2B. Mrs. Hudson (Megan McDermott), serves as a force, pushing the pair together, inviting them both to get out of their own way and give each other a chance. Nick Nudler’s Inspector Lestrade charms his way into apartment 2B reminding Holmes that she’s not the only one with clever ideas.

Peacock is quippy, punny, tumultuous, and uproarious— a true embodiment of Aristotle’s idea that 'there is no great genius without some touch of madness.' She is mad as a hatter. Peacock’s ebbs and flows, highs and lows keeps the time for this band of misfits. Letourneau plays the unsuspecting saying what we all are thinking while serving as a catalyst of exposition— turning slapstick moments of misunderstanding into the audience’s gateway into the unfolding plot points.

Nudler’s is love-struck and giddy, and buoys Holmes and Watson’s adventures with light-hearted banter and subtle innuendo— while McDermott pivots between the seductress Irene Adler and the clumsily comedic Mrs. Hudson. The four-person cast brings life to each scene, bringing Hamill’s intended cheekiness to bear scene after scene, case after case.

The great British showdown on the infantile stylings of Americanness is played up in the costume design of Barbara Erin Delo. Delo exaggerates the characteristics of each country while highlighting each character’s archetype. Watson’s rock and roll grunge juxtaposes Holmes’s layering of sophisticated patterns and colors. Holmes’ mixed patterns outline the same chaos that tumble from her thoughts. The simplicity of Lestrade’s pieces with the busyness of his pattern representative of the layers of his character that unfolds.    

The lighting design of Johann Fitzpatrick, the sound design of Rachel Landy, and Lindsay G. Fiori’s scenic design work harmoniously to unravel the tapestry of the tale as is heightened in the case after case scene where the production alludes to a slew of Holmes and Watson adventures with choreography, narration, lighting, and sounds that creates a seamless and hilarious live montage effect.

This 2-hour and 30-minute production (including a 15-minute intermission) has all the trimmings of comedy and all the trappings of mystery. Kate Hamill’s desecration of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories successfully delivers the joy of the chase without the control of the hunt in this leather jacket donning, plaid cloak wearing, Ask Jeevesy, carrot and stick exposition of a game that is most-certainly afoot.

Ms. Holmes & Ms. Watson - APT. 2B runs through February 18, 2024 at Playhouse on Park in West Hartford, CT. For tickets, visit https://www.playhouseonpark.org