What if Sherlock Holmes was a woman?

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In Kate Hamill’s comedy Ms Holmes and Ms Watson – #2B, making its Canadian premiere at the Vertigo Theatre, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous detective, Sherlock Holmes, is a woman, as is his famous partner, Watson.

“This is an alternate world where there is no connection to the male Sherlock. It’s a world where Sherlock is a woman, and her world is not Victorian England, but modern-day London. It’s a whole new world and a whole new Sherlock and Watson,” says Julie Orton, who plays the contemporary female detective. Her unwitting partner in crime-solving, Joan Watson, is played by Tahirih Vejdani.

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“The work is not so much a parody of the Sherlock stories as an homage to them. Kate Hamill has used Doyle’s short story A Scandal in Bohemia as the main plot, but there are references to other Sherlock cases and characters. Scandal introduced readers to Irene Adler, the most famous female character in the Sherlock stories, and she plays an important role in the mystery that Holmes and Watson have to solve in this work. We also meet other famous Sherlock characters, such as his landlady Mrs Hudson, Inspector Lestrade of Scotland Yard and Sherlock’s arch-nemesis Moriarty.”

All supporting characters are played by Camille Pavlenko and Graham Percy.

“The play is set in 2021 and the playwright even mentions the emergence of the pandemic and how it affected the theater by needing small casts. Once again, these kinds of references are part of the fun, and Kate Hamill has packed the play with as much fun as possible.”

This goofy approach suits Orton just fine.

“I am a fairly physical performer, so I like that the work dispenses with subtlety. I like that Hamill gave me Sherlock’s iconic traits, like the brilliant mind and quick observations, but also quirks like he can’t pick up on social cues, is quite prideful, selfish, inconsiderate, and awkward. “There’s a lot to play with and that’s what I’ve always enjoyed as an actor.”

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Orton’s only other experience with a Sherlock Holmes mystery was Vertigo Theatre’s 2014 production of The Hound of the Baskervilles.

“Haysam Kadri was Sherlock with Karl Sine as Watson. Paul Welch played all the supporting male characters and I played all the female characters. “I remember thinking at that moment that one day I would really like to be the person who solves the mystery, and here I am living that dream.”

Orton’s professional career began at Vertigo in 2007 when then-artistic director Mark Bellamy hired her right out of college to be the company’s acting intern.

“That season I was in Vertigo’s production of the musical The Mystery of Edwin Drood and in the world premiere of Peter Collie’s Noirville. I’ve done at least a dozen shows with Vertigo since then. I’m very excited to play Sherlock because I get to put my personal stamp on a beloved and iconic character. My Sherlock will be very different from what Haysam, Mike Tan and Braden Griffiths have given Vertigo audiences, not only because I am a woman, but because I have a different worldview than them. My inspiration came not from any of them, nor from Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller, but from Gene Wilder’s film The Adventures of Sherlock’s Smarter Brother. That’s the big comedic vibe I’m going for.”

Hamill is currently the most produced contemporary playwright in the United States, primarily with college, university, and community theater companies for her adaptations of Jane Austin’s novels. Theater Calgary produced Hamill’s Little Women and The Scarlet Letter. Ms. Holmes was commissioned by the Kansas City Repertory Company. The Vertigo version is directed by Kathryn Smith with scenery by Julia Kim.

It will take place from May 11 to June 9.

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