By Danielle Mages Amato

What has been most exciting about working on this play?

I did not grow up as a Sherlock Holmes fan. I knew who Sherlock Holmes was, but I didn’t read any of the books, I never saw any of the old movies. So reading this play was really my first introduction to Sherlock Holmes, which has been a really exciting journey. And now, of course, I’m a fan! I’ve immersed myself in all the stories and movies and TV series. One of the things that’s exciting to me about working on the play is introducing these iconic characters to a whole new generation and to those folks like me who are really stepping into this world for the first time. I’m also excited about the way Kate Hamill has taken those stories and flipped them on their head, making this a real feminine-forward story. 

What are some of the essential Sherlock Holmes elements you think the play is honoring and exploring?

I think Kate has been very successful in capturing the energies of Holmes and Watson, as well as the brains of these two characters. 

I love Kate’s version of Holmes. She is so laser focused on every moment that she’s in, and that moment can switch in an instant, like turning on a lamp—and then she’s off on a new plan. As I was reading the script, the actor Ruibo Qian’s energy and rhythms just kept coming into my brain. There’s a playfulness, there’s a wackiness about her, but she also has a maturity and a mystery in her that feel just right for Holmes.

When it comes to Watson, I feel like I relate to the character so much because Watson tends to lead from the heart, whereas Holmes almost always leads from 

the head. I think Watson’s character has shifted more than Holmes in the many different portrayals of these two. In the stories and in the early movies, Watson felt a little isolated or sheltered—not fully enmeshed in the stories as much as he is in later retellings. I love that Kate’s Watson, whether she wants to be or not, finds herself embroiled in the middle of it all, and then she has to climb out of it. Finding an actor who could laugh at herself, and who could feel connected to what’s happening around her, was what I was looking for. And Natalie Woolams-Torres is so funny and so joyous and brings Watson to life in a brand new way.

What experience do you want people to have when watching the play?

Kate makes a note in her script that it would be fun to have a chessboard on part of the stage where Holmes and Watson might occasionally make chess moves.

And I thought, well, what if our whole show was a game? And what if our whole set became that chessboard, and Holmes and Watson and all the characters became players in that game? Then we could invite the audience to play this game with us and to watch the power struggle of these characters as you would in a chess game. 

I think ultimately I hope the audience puts on their own little Holmes caps and pulls out their own little magnifying glasses and says, “We’re going to solve this with you.” 

Photo by Mark Anthony Holmes.