SLEUTHING FOR LAUGHS? YOU’LL FIND THEM HERE

It’s elementary! A clever script, thanks to the prolific and popular playwright Kate Hamill, and superb physical and verbal comedy, thanks to a great quartet of actors, make Ms. Holmes & Ms. Watson — Apt. 2B the perfect solution to the puzzle of how to find a satisfying theatrical experience.

Stephen Shore, Eryn O'Sullivan

Imagine, if you will, younger versions of Emma Thompson and Whoopi Goldberg in the roles of Holmes and Watson, and you might not see better performances than those delivered by Eryn O’Sullivan as the sternly playful Londoner Holmes and Breezy Leigh as the travel-weary American transplant Watson seeking nothing but an affordable room. Unfortunately for Watson (but fortunately for us) the only affordable lodgings Watson can find come with a roommate—Holmes—who quickly fixes her inquiring mind on prying into Watson’s personal business and enlisting Watson in Holmes’s idea of adventure, which comes with blood, guns, and duplicity.

Eryn O'Sullivan, Grace Experience

Eryn O'Sullivan, Breezy Leigh, Stephen Shore

And thus the game’s afoot. The convoluted plot involves Texas billionaire Elliot Monk (Stephen Shore, who also plays Inspector Lestrade and others) who is trying to buy his way into the U.S. Senate and Irene Adler (Grace Experience, also Mrs. Hudson and others), the woman who has incriminating evidence on Monk, as well as a corpse and various other complicating factors. Those details don’t necessarily matter—much of the pleasure of the show comes from the unerring characterizations of each of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s iconic figures.

Eryn O'Sullivan, Breezy Leigh

Eryn O'Sullivan, Breezy Leigh

Gloucester Stage artistic director Rebecca Bradshaw thus brings yet another successful production to the small but mighty Gloucester Stage, which consistently wins recognition for its excellent productions, whether American classics like The Glass Menagerie or a comic, but tear-jerking, buddy act like The Garbologists.

To paraphrase Holmes, if Gloucester Stage is mounting a show, go at once if convenient—if inconvenient, go all the same.

The Cast

Breezy Leigh, Eryn O'Sullivan, Stephen Shore

photos by Shawn G. Henry

Ms. Holmes & Ms. Watson — Apt. 2B
Gloucester Stage Company
267 East Main Street in Gloucester, MA
Wed and Thurs at 7:30; Fri at 8; Sat at 3 & 8; Sun at 3
ends on September 27, 2025
for tickets, call 978.281.4433 or visit Gloucester Stage

for more shows, visit Theatre in Boston