Loyal sidekick becomes the detective in 'Holmes and Watson'

Mike Fischer
Special to the Journal Sentinel
Norman Moses (right) confronts Grant Goodman in "Holmes and Watson," performed by Milwaukee Repertory Theater.

We know that after seemingly plunging to his death at Reichenbach Falls, Sherlock Holmes would be back, saved by readers clamoring for more from the world’s greatest detective.

But all that’s still ahead for the loyal Watson we meet at the beginning of “Holmes and Watson,” yet another Jeffrey Hatcher play being staged by the Milwaukee Repertory Theater under Joseph Hanreddy’s direction.  Like Hatcher’s tedious “Armadale” – mounted by the Rep a decade ago – it’s a lot of plot and not much payoff.

Things begin when Watson (Norman Moses) receives a telegram from a doctor (Mark Corkins) running a Scottish insane asylum and indicating that three of his inmates are each claiming to be Sherlock Holmes. 

Sure, it’s a bit suspect that Watson can’t immediately identify his best friend, in a play that manufactures suspense on this point for most of its 80 intermission-free minutes. 

But as Watson told us upon viewing a typically top-notch Holmes disguise in the superb “A Scandal in Bohemia” – one of two Holmes stories inspiring Hatcher’s play – “the stage lost a fine actor, even as science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in crime.” 

So which of the three would-be Sherlocks are impostors?

The first and most acerbic (Ryan Imhoff) most closely resembles the classic Holmes.  The second and most extroverted (Grant Goodman) more closely resembles a bearded Christ.  The third (Rex Young) has a shaved head and is apparently deaf, dumb and blind. 

Assisted by a menacing orderly (Eric Damon Smith) and a creepy matron (Maggie Kettering), Corkins’ slightly sinister doctor keeps this trio in line.  But it’s up to Watson to tell us who these three are.   

That mystery gets explained near play’s end, in the course of a protracted reveal that’s often more clunky than clever, requiring convoluted and not always convincing exposition that slows the action to a crawl. 

What’s missing is any explanation of the psychology of these characters and what makes them tick.

Why might the mad choose to impersonate Holmes, and what does this tell us about Holmes himself?  What does it mean to be trapped within a story?  What if the stories Watson has written are hagiography rather than true – a topic briefly raised and then dropped?   Most intriguingly, just why is Holmes so fascinated by Irene Adler, the woman who bested him in “Bohemia”?  

There’ll be no plumbing of such depths in this safe and bland show; what we’re given is an abstract puzzle rather than flesh-and-blood people.  Hanreddy’s veteran cast – all doing good work here – make the most of what little they’re given.  But much like the video projections whisking Watson to Scotland, they’re forced to cover a lot of ground while only skimming the surface. 

“Holmes and Watson” continues through Dec. 17 at the Quadracci Powerhouse Theater, 108 E. Wells St.  For tickets, visit www.milwaukeerep.com.  Read more about this production at TapMilwaukee.com

PROGRAM NOTES

Welcome Back, Mark!: It’s been well over six years since onetime Rep mainstay Mark Corkins appeared on the Rep’s Quadracci stage as Uncle Ben in “Death of a Salesman.”  But he’s been doing terrific work all over Wisconsin in the interim, including an excellent turn as Sir Toby in this past summer’s first-rate production of “Twelfth Night” at Door Shakespeare (directed by Hanreddy). Here’s hoping we see more of Corkins at the Rep in the near future.     

Welcome Back, Rex!: It’s been a considerably longer hiatus for Rex Young, a 20-year veteran of the prestigious Oregon Shakespeare Festival, where he was marvelous this last summer in productions I saw of “Shakespeare in Love” and “The Merry Wives of Windsor.”  He last appeared at the Milwaukee Rep in “Noises Off,” 18 years ago.  Oregon Shakes – second only to Wisconsin’s own American Players Theatre among U.S. summer theater festivals – has announced its 2018 season. It’s worth the trip.

Speaking of Door County: With four Equity companies – Door Shakespeare, Northern Sky Theater, Peninsula Players Theatre and the Third Avenue Playhouse – Door County is currently producing some of the best theater in Wisconsin, courtesy in part of strong contributions from Milwaukee-based actors like Corkins.  Before appearing in “Holmes and Watson,” for example, Norman Moses played opposite Corkins in the Door Shakes “Twelfth Night” as Malvolio, in a production that also included strong performances from local actors Elyse Edelman (Viola) and Deborah Staples (Olivia). Maggie Kettering, a Chicago-based actor who is making her Milwaukee Rep debut in “Holmes and Watson,” was particularly memorable in a 2015 production by Peninsula Players of “Outside Mullingar” that landed on my list of the year’s best. As it happens, Peninsula Players has just announced its own 2018 season.

Diversity on Stage: By my count, we’ve seen thirteen separate Jeffrey Hatcher plays (and even more productions) in Milwaukee during the past two decades.  One can see why theater companies like Hatcher’s work: his plays are reliably well written and are usually well crafted, albeit within a comparatively narrow and naturalistic tonal range.  But when there’s so much really good (and much more innovative and exciting) work by women and artists of color that’s not being seen in Milwaukee, one wishes that our city’s leading theater company would venture further afield more often when programming.  Even during the play-it-safe holidays.

The Rep’s New Plays Initiative:  The Rep itself makes the case for such programming, in its justification of its New Play Development Program that’s among Mark Clements’ most laudable and ambitious goals as Rep artistic director:

“We have a responsibility,” the Rep writes, “to stand at the forefront of current cultural conversations that impact each of our lives.  We seek to tell stories for now – that keep theater vibrant in the present and alive for the future, that engage an audience representative of Milwaukee’s rich diversity in a robust conversation about the future of our community and world, that instill civic pride and community interconnection, and that allow us to export our culture, thereby putting Milwaukee’s stamp on the country and the world.”

Amen to that, and to much more programming at the Rep consistent with that goal.  This coming February, for example, the Rep’s new-play incubator will present the world premiere of Catherine Trieschmann’s “One House Over” about a culture clash involving domestic workers; the following month, the Rep will stage Dale Orlandersmith’s one-actor musings on what happened in Ferguson. 

In the interim, the Rep has quietly launched what will apparently be a monthly series of readings involving either work still being developed or relatively new and still infrequently staged plays.  The program began on Nov. 6 with a well-acted reading directed by Rep associate artistic director May Adrales of Andrea Thome’s “Pinkolandia,” about Chilean refugees living in Wisconsin during the aftermath of the 1973 coup.  Look for details from the Rep on future readings in the near future.