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Ms. Holmes and Ms. Watson Review

First Published: 2023 August 24

Draft 1

A few weeks ago now1 I did something that I haven’t done in a while.2 I went to go see a play. The university I attend3 was putting on a production of Ms. Holmes and Ms. Watson.

Now, if you’re anything like me, then your first instinct will be to complain that it’s “Ms.” Watson, not “Dr.” Watson.4 I had that complaint going in, especially since the play was described as a feminist retelling.5 I had6 recently subscribed to a SubStack7 called “Letters from Watson,” which just sends out serialized versions of the Sherlock Holmes short stories. It’s really interesting reading them, especially as someone who reads8 a fair amount of modern serialized fiction. The genre conventions have certainly shifted in the intervening years. However, since this post is a review of the show, rather than the fiction, I digress.

When I arrived, the play promised many of the common staples of modern small work plays. It said that there would be forced audience participation9 and that it was a loving but disrespectful10 retelling of Arthur Conan Doyle’s work. It was fine.

I’m not sure whether I was just hungry and so not as into the play as normal, but the play lacked a lot of flow to me. When I go to a play that I really enjoy, at least for a moment I forget that what I am watching is a play. At no point during the show did I forget that I was sitting in a crowd, watching a performance. I suppose the fourth wall breaks did add to that feeling.11 Still, it was an enjoyable show, and I would happily see it again.


  1. because wow it turns out that one reason I might stop posting is because I become suddenly busy↩︎

  2. though, given the infinite number of potential permutations of activities I can do, that’s not the most meaningful statement.↩︎

  3. which is such an awkward construction↩︎

  4. of course, that’s presupposing a lot about the (allegedly extant) readership of my blog, I suppose↩︎

  5. not to stereotype, but as one might expect by the gender swapping in the title.↩︎

  6. have?↩︎

  7. newsletter app, more or less↩︎

  8. and writes↩︎

  9. though it phrased it differently,↩︎

  10. again, me paraphrasing, I don’t remember the actual verbiage↩︎

  11. this is not the place for me to go into a rant about the way that I dislike modern (popular) media’s tendency (tendencies? media is technically inherently plural) to avoid any sort of genuine emotional appeal by hiding it behind sarcasm and smarm. There will be a place for it sometime soon, but not today↩︎

  12. which is shockingly hard for me to type. I had to erase four four four at least once (and then again when trying to type what my mistake was, I put for in the wrong place as well↩︎

  13. though indeterminate↩︎

  14. two verses, a bridge, and a chorus. It’s probably only like two or three minutes long, but that’s fine.↩︎