On Friday, October 2nd, 2015, I attended the play The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes in the Performing Arts Center. The performers were members of the Aquila Theatre Company. The play consisted of three acts, each one being a different mystery story that Sherlock Holmes had to solve.
The first mystery was that of a young governess, who came to Holmes seeking advice on whether or not she should accept a generous job offer. After deciding to accept it, she realized some odd quirks about the family, like how they made her cut her hair short and wear a specific blue dress. Even more suspicious was that they sat her in front of a window, but would never let her turn around and look out it. There was also a room that she was to never ever go into. Holmes and his partner Watson arrived to solve the mystery, and he found that the daughter of the family had been locked up in the room that the governess was never to go in.
In the second act, a young man came to Holmes and Watson seeking advice. His wife had been acting very suspicious. First, she had asked him for a large sum of money, without offering him a reason why. Secondly, he had caught her sneaking out in the middle of the night and going to a house down the street. Holmes suspected cheating. Through investigations, they discovered that the man’s wife had been sneaking out and going to the cottage down the road because her daughter from a previous marriage was there. The wife feared that her husband would not be accepting of her child because she was black. The husband accepts the wife and child for who they are, and the mystery is solved.
The final mystery is that of the Bohemian King. He and his royal family were threatened because a woman the king used to know, Irene Adler, had a photo of them that she could use to blackmail him. The king was about to be married, and this photo could ruin the marriage if she were to see it. In an attempt to avoid a scandal, the king went to Holmes for help. The mystery ends with a letter written to Holmes by Irene Adler, explaining that she has the photograph but would never do anything to harm the king with it.
All of these characters were portrayed by just five performers. The mysteries were intriguing and there was some humor thrown in that made the performance even more enjoyable.