DORSET — The Dorset Players continues its 96th season from Dec. 1 to 10 with the 2012 Edgar Award-winning mystery/comedy “The Game’s Afoot, or Holmes for the Holidays,” by Ken Ludwig. The show is directed by Luke Krueger, produced by Lynne Worth, and stage managed by Cheryl Gushee.
The story is set in December 1936, and Broadway star William Gillette, admired the world over for his leading role in the play “Sherlock Holmes,” has invited his fellow cast members to his Connecticut castle for a weekend of Yuletide revelry.
Not so fast! When one of the guests is stabbed to death, the festivities in this isolated house of tricks and mirrors quickly turn dangerous. It’s then up to Gillette himself, as he assumes the persona of his beloved Holmes, to track down the killer before the next victim appears.
The danger and hilarity are nonstop in this dazzling whodunit set during the Christmas holidays — hence the timing of the play’s staging in the Players’ season slate.
Krueger said that his excitement for the play hits on something many have experienced and can relate to: a family holiday party that goes horribly wrong.
“Ludwig adds in a little different twists to the old chestnut,” Krueger said. “It’s not family per se, but these are friends, gathering for holiday, [and] there is a modern feel to it, despite it being set in the 1930s.”
To kick it up a bit more, Krueger continued, Ludwig has Gillette — who, for his time, was a titan of the stage — trying to figure out who tried to kill him.
“Then toss into it an unexpected guest who everyone hates and wants to see dead,” Krueger said. “Ludwig keeps piling on, and it all leads to keenly timed comedy, with genuine sweetness.”
This potpourri of murder mystery and guffaws was a popular draw for the company’s auditions, and what emerged was a formidable lineup of Players taking on the show’s characters: William Gillette (played by Josh Bond), Martha Gillette (Elizabeth Karet), Felix Geisel (Paul Michael Brinker), Madge Geisel (Stacie Ruiz), Simon Bright (Christopher Restino), Aggie Wheeler (Danielle Houston), Inspector Goring (Julie Redington) and Daria Chase (Elisabeth Hazelton).
“Everybody in the cast not only has significant stage experience, but they’re all well known to the Dorset Players’ audience,” Krueger said. “I won’t say it makes my job easy, but they keep me on my toes with excellent questions, observations and contributions. I just do a little shaping. They do one hell of a job bringing the characters to life. They’ve made my job so much easier, and this is not an easy play.”
Brinker, the Players’ executive producer and business manager, relished the opportunity to be casted as Felix Geisel, and not just because of the comedy — which he admits he loves — but also the classic Sherlock Holmes parallels.
“Geisel is best friend to William Gillette, and in their hit play, he’s Professor Moriarty to Gillette’s Sherlock,” Brinker said, invoking the Arthur Conan Doyle creations which Ludwig used as his inspiration in crafting this lampoon-fest. “I’ve enjoyed playing a brash and dramatic character who has many different levels, but clearly revels in the extremes.”
Brinker explained that working with director Luke Krueger “has been a lot of fun, and he’s challenged us to fully embody our characters since day one.” He further added that in a murder mystery “we all have some of our dark side shown to confuse the audience of the whodunnit, so it’s been a great arc to play with.”
Krueger nodded at Brinker’s assessment, calling Ludwig “a master of farce and comedy,” who has “mastered dramaturgical judo where his story takes the audience’s momentum one way, reverses, and then uses that momentum to toss them in an unexpected, hilarious direction, time and time again both for the mystery and the comedy.”
Ludwig himself couldn’t have said it better. In a past interview with licensing firm Concord Theatricals, the playwright himself gave a universal shoutout to anyone taking on one of his works.
“[I]t gives me so much joy to see what everyone is doing with my plays,” Ludwig said. “If they’re professional, great. Love community theater, it’s where I had my roots. I grew up in York, Pennsylvania, and my mother was in all the community theater shows. I’ve since been involved in community theater around the country, and with high schools and colleges. Please let me know what you’re doing. I wish everybody great luck with productions of my plays.”
“The Game’s Afoot, or Holmes for the Holidays” by Ken Ludwig, directed by Luke Krueger and produced by Lynne Worth, will run from Dec. 1 to 10 with matinees and evening shows, at the Dorset Playhouse, 104 Cheney Road, Dorset. For tickets, call the box office at 802-867-5777 or visit dorsetplayers.org.