‘The Game’s Afoot’: Murder both foul and funny
By Rich Fahey
BOSTON – It’s fast. It’s funny. And perfect for the holiday season.
A cast with some of Boston’s finest comedic actors has been assembled to make sure getting to whodunit will be a grand old time. And a holiday-themed one, at that.
Ken Ludwig’s “The Game’s Afoot,” subtitled “Holmes for the Holidays,” at the Lyric Stage Company of Boston through Dec. 17, is murder most foul and funny that has as its central character the man who first brought the iconic character of Sherlock Holmes to the stage and screen.
The actor William Gillette was renowned for adopting Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories about Sherlock Holmes for the stage and is credited with creating the character’s deerstalker hat, tobacco pipe and magnifying glass persona.
As “The Game’s Afoot” opens, Gillette (Kelby T. Akin) is portraying Holmes on a Broadway stage when a shot rings out, felling him.
The action then moves to a blustery December night in 1936 and the drawing room of Gillette’s castle home in Connecticut where he lives with his mother Martha (Sarah Sinclair). The recovering Gillette has invited several of his friends to his home for a weekend of revelry with the intent of finding out who pulled the trigger.
They include his longtime actor friend Felix Geisel (Remo Airaldi) and Felix’s wife Madge (Pamela Lambert) and newlyweds Simon Bright (Dan Garcia) and Aggie Wheeler (Gabrielle McCauley).
Gillette explains why he has asked them there. He then informs them he expects another guest: the glamorous and notorious columnist Daria Chase (Maureen Keiller), who ruins peoples’ lives for fun. She trades barbs and insults with the others at her grand entrance and we soon find she has the goods on everyone at the party.
Gillette is also looking for another person: The murderer who shot a stagehand at the Palace Theatre, the same place where Gillette was shot. Are the two events connected?
Keillor’s Chase eventually confronts the other party guests about information that could ruin them if it was revealed. When she later turns up dead in one of the funniest death scenes ever staged, the obvious question is: Who had a motive to murder her? Well, everyone, it turns out.
As hilarious as Act I is, the ante is upped in Act II with the appearance of Peter Mill’s Inspector Goring, a female version of the generic uber-serious British homicide detective. His facial expressions as the chaos erupts around him are priceless. Mill notes in his program bio the number of acting award nominations he has received without winning. With this latest performance, it could happen.
Gillette picks a key moment in the investigation to go into full Sherlock Holmes mode, and the two detectives engage in a hilarious battle of wits in a bid to sniff out the killer.
It’s all in the capable hands of director Fred Sullivan Jr., who for many years was one of the best reasons to journey down Route 95 to Trinity Rep in Providence, while also becoming an acting mainstay at the Gamm Theatre in Warwick, R.I. and the Commonwealth Shakespeare Company in Boston. He has gradually transitioned seamlessly into an excellent director both here and in Rhode Island, and he is at his best when the job requires precision comic timing, as is needed for “The Game’s Afoot.”
The Lyric Stage has invested heavily in the show and the production values are superb. Set designer Janie E. Howland has literally set the stage for the show’s success, using every square inch, nook and cranny available to recreate part of the mythic castle Gillette constructed in East Haddam, Conn. with its 47 one-of-a-kind wooden doors and medieval features.
The devil is in the details, with Howland constructing a revolving bookcase that opens up to become one of the secret rooms in the mansion.
Murder mysteries thrive on lights flickering, thunder clapping, and shots ringing out and the potential for a technical disaster is always there, but John Malinowski’s lighting, Andrew Duncan Will’s sound, Chelsea Kerl’s costumes, and Jennifer Butler’s props all merge to create the murderous funhouse director Sullivan desired.
As with many famous phrases, “the game’s afoot” has its roots in Shakespeare, to wit a passage in King Henry V Part I as King Henry prepares to lead his soldiers into battle.
This piece is a most worthy successor to last year’s holiday smash-hit “The Play That Goes Wrong”, a show that earned Sullivan a Norton Award nomination for his direction.
In his program notes, Sullivan described “The Game’s Afoot” as “witty, thrilling, silly and stupid.”
Sadly, he has understated it. As presented here, it is a sublime romp, artfully constructed and executed by a nonpareil group of actors and designers.
The Lyric Stage Company production of “The Game’s Afoot: Holmes for the Holidays.” Written by Ken Ludwig. Directed by Fred Sullivan, Jr. Set design by Janie E. Howland. Lighting by John Malinowski. Sound by Andrew Duncan Will. Costumes by Chelsea Kerl. Jennifer Butler, props artisan. At the Lyric Stage Company, Clarendon Street, Boston, through Dec. 17. Lyricstage.com.