Playwright Kate Hamill’s reimagination of the Sherlock Holmes legend is anything but elementary.
In her female-centric world, consulting detective Shirley (nickname for Sherlock) Holmes and her friend and associate Dr. Joan Watson reside in a post-COVID-19 pandemic London. The game is afoot, some familiar Arthur Conan Doyle characters turn up, and Baker Street is awash in a dark comedy murder mystery.
Hamill’s 2021 “Ms. Holmes & Ms. Watson – Apt. 2B” is the Old Globe’s summer production on its intimate Sheryl and Harvey White stage. Starring Ruibo Qian as Holmes and Natalie Woolams-Torres as Watson, the play is being directed by Globe Resident Artist James Vasquez, who presided over last summer’s “The Merry Wives of Windsor” on the outdoor Festival Stage.
Jenn Harris portrays multiple characters, including two that are well-known to Sherlock Holmes devotees: landlady Mrs. Hudson and the adventuress Irene Adler. Nehal Joshi plays, among others, Scotland Yard’s Inspector Lestrade.
In coming on board, neither Qian nor Woolams-Torres was conversant with Conan Doyle’s characters and stories.
“I had absolutely zero knowledge of the Sherlock Holmes canon,” said Qian, who has appeared in Globe productions of “Dial M For Murder” and 2024’s “Merry Wives.” “I didn’t really dive into it until I got here. This play allows for a new perspective on who this character is. We’re leaning away from the traditional tropes of his psychological afflictions and leaning more into his personality and what drives his — her — brain.”
Woolams-Torres, who like Qian is based in New York, is making her Old Globe debut in the play.
“I didn’t grow up reading the (Holmes) stories,” Woolams-Torres said. “But I’m a big fan of the procedural genre and true crime. I’m one of those millennials who constantly has true-crime podcasts on, so I appreciate the puzzle that goes into solving these crimes.”
The “Holmes” play is the latest of Hamill’s scripts to find a home on San Diego stages. Scripps Ranch Theatre just finished up her “Vanity Fair” adaptation and Cygnet Theatre has produced both her “Pride and Prejudice” (in 2019) and the world premiere of her “The Little Fellow (or The Queen of Tarts Tells All”) last year. Most of Hamill’s plays feature women as central characters and they’re often adapted from famous 19th century novels.
Many of Conan Doyle’s original Holmes and Watson stories are incorporated into the script of “Ms. Holmes & Ms. Watson,” but no knowledge of Conan Doyle’s work is necessary to enjoy the show.
“If you have any awareness of Sherlock Holmes as an archetype, that’s all you need,” Qian said.
In that respect, Qian and Woolams-Torres are approaching their characters without any Conan Doyle reference points.
“For me,” said Qian,” this universe that Kate Hamill has created is the only iteration of Sherlock Holmes that exists. I come at it from an angle of Sherlock being almost clairvoyant, with a higher intuition than most human beings. That’s the avenue in which she addresses solving these crimes. It’s how I’m able to get into the machinations of her brain space.”
Woolams-Torres’ Joan Watson, meanwhile, is navigating the post-pandemic world.
“I’m going through a crisis in my life,” she said of her character, “where I’m just trying to find myself and who I am now. I’ve found this bizarre female friendship, someone who can oddly ground me even though she’s spinning me for a loop every second. Someone who sees me in a way that I haven’t been seen since pre-pandemic days.”
“She’s got what I want: using the logical brain before the emotions take over.”
While Conan Doyle’s Dr. John Watson is usually regarded as Sherlock Holmes’ loyal but lesser light, that’s not the case with Hamill’s Ms. Holmes and Ms. Watson.
“I don’t feel secondary here,” said Woolams-Torres. “I feel like we’re constantly looking to each other for answers.”
Qian characterizes the women’s relationship as “a symbiotic-ecosystem dynamic between us. We realize that we both definitely need each other to function.”
The two actors credit director Vasquez for creating an atmosphere conducive to building their rapport in this production.
“The chemistry comes from the top. Everyone is very happy to be there,” Woolams-Torres said. “I feel so comfortable to play. It feels so safe.”
‘Ms. Holmes and Ms. Watson – Apt. 2B’
When: Previews, Saturday through July 31. Opens Aug. 1 and runs through Sept. 1. 7 p.m. Tuesdays and Wednesdays; 8 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays; 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays; 2 and 7 p.m. Sundays
Where: Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre, the Old Globe, 1363 Old Globe Way, Balboa Park, San Diego.
Tickets: $49 and up
Phone: (619) 234-5623
Online: theoldglobe.org
