“Miss Holmes,” a gender-swapped reimagining of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s iconic detective duo, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, will premiere in Baltimore next month at Fells Point Corner Theater (FPCT).
The play is by Christopher Walsh, and will be directed by FPCT’s managing director, Brad Norris. The gender-flipping tale has one of London’s first female surgeons, Dr. Dorothy Watson, teaming up with gifted and bold detective, Miss Sherlock Holmes to help a newlywed wife who has received an ominous anonymous note. The duo discovers secrets of a corrupt police inspector with a trail of dead wives.
They’re unconventional women who risk their lives to challenge the rigid gender roles of the time in the service of solving crime. “Miss Holmes” is inspired by the works of Doyle and re-examines the Victorian world his characters inhabit by adding the obstacles faced by the main characters due to their being women.
“Holmes and Watson are the gold standard in many ways in the mystery genre, and the literary tropes that Conan Doyle uses have been copied and imitated endlessly,” Norris said. “Walsh however, breathes new life into these stories with his careful and deliberate research into the historical lives of women in 1880’s London society. The play is a new characterization of these icons, with new and very real obstacles to overcome that they’ve never faced before, while still keeping the tone, intrigue, and even humor of Conan Doyle’s original stories.”
Christopher Walsh is a playwright and performer based in Chicago, Illinois. He is a member of the artistic ensemble at Lifeline Theater in Chicago, a member of the Dramatists Guild, and of SAG-AFTRA. “Miss Holmes” was originally produced at Lifeline Theater in 2016.
Walsh was nominated for a Jeff award in 2014 for his adaptation of “A Tale of Two Cities.” His radio play “Fracture Zone” won the Bloody Axe Award in WildClaw Theatre’s 2014 Deathscribe Festival of horror radio plays.
The Baltimore premiere of “Miss Holmes” is on April 26 at 8 p.m. On April 25 at 8 p.m., there will be a special Pay-What-You-Can preview performance.
After opening night, the show will run on Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., and on Sundays at 2 p.m. from April 26 through May 19. Tickets cost $24, with flex passes and group discounts available. Purchase tickets online by clicking this link.
Fells Point Corner Theater is located at 251 S. Ann St. in the Upper Fells Point neighborhood of Baltimore.
