Loyola Academy’s theater students embarked on a mystery adventure this past weekend in their performance of Sherlock Holmes.
On Nov. 1-3, 2024, fans gathered in the Performing Arts Center to watch the amazing production of this classic, but unique show.
Loyola’s version of Sherlock Holmes featured all of the iconic characters; however the story was one-of-a-kind.
Colin San Roman, who played John Watson, opened the show by telling the audience that they were in for a mystery they had never seen or read before. The idea was based on the Sherlock Holmes stories, but it was something entirely new.
The other special element of the play, San Roman warned viewers, was that they were going to be asked to participate in the unfolding of events.
Throughout the performance, characters called Baker Street Irregulars were sent out into the audience to ask questions. Audience members would be called on to decide the favorite food or song of a character, which would then be used in the next scene.
Other times, the entire crowd was asked to raise their hands in a vote for which scene they would rather see. The actors had two scenes ready to perform, and went ahead with whichever one was chosen.
I found this interactive element to be incredibly exciting. It made me more engaged in the show, and I enjoyed the feeling that the characters were actually talking to us.
“It was one of my favorite aspects of the show because it kept me on my toes,” senior Lucy Kirkland, who played Sherlock Holmes, said.
Geoffrey Arndt, one of the directors of Sherlock, had multiple reasons for deciding to add the audience interaction. He said that he read through many different versions of the story, and none of them felt particularly exciting. Ultimately, the directors were inspired by the upcoming election to add a vote and participatory element into their own show.
Two outstanding performances in this show came from seniors Lucy Kirkland and Colin San Roman.
Kirkland took to the character of Sherlock Holmes fantastically and delivered each line in such a way that made me forget she was even acting. It felt like I was actually watching Holmes solve a mystery, and I could see all of his thoughts and decisions being made.
San Roman not only played John Watson fabulously, he also served as a wonderful narrator for the show. By leading all of the interactive elements and conversing with the crowd, he took the performance to a new level that left me and all the other audience members wowed.
“Colin put so much work into the show,” senior Evelyn Pricco said. “A lot of what went into making the show possible was him as the narrator.”
My other favorite part of this show was the dance/fight scene. The audience was asked to vote if they would rather see Watson or Holmes put on a diversion. The winner performed a dance as the distraction, while also fighting off attacking enemies.
The night that I went to the show, Watson won the vote, and he performed the dance with Mary Morstan, who was played by Evelyn Pricco.
The dance and fight were put on beautifully and were so fun to watch as an audience member. It was so impressive how the actors were able to learn such difficult dance and fight choreography and then do them at the same time.
“That was probably my favorite part of the show,” Pricco said. “We learned it in two separate weeks. The first week we had a dance choreographer come in, and the second week we had fight choreographers come to teach us.”
At times, the storyline did feel hard to follow. There were a lot of characters and elements of the mystery to keep track of, which had me confused some of the time. The big reveal at the end did not feel as exciting to me because I was not completely sure what was actually happening.
However, this did not take away from the fact that the acting and performances from all the students involved were outstanding.
“I’m very proud,” Kirkland said. “I like to think of how our cast did as a whole rather than just myself, and I think we gave it our all.”
And the actors were not the only people that made the show possible. The crew also worked hard on the sets, costumes, lighting, and moving pieces during the show.
“The crew pulled together in such a focused way that we all learned a little more about teamwork,” Arndt said.
As the hard work on Sherlock has come to an end, the Loyola theater students and their fans still have much to look forward to. Students will have the opportunity to learn to write short plays which will be performed in November, there is a directing workshop in January, and the musical Hello Dolly will hold auditions in December.
