Stir Q&A: Director Barbara Tomasic offers clues to Ken Ludwig's comical Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery
Multitasking characters and carefully choreographed mayhem at the Gateway Theatre
Genevieve Fleming and Gerry Mackay in Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery. Photo by David Cooper
Director Barbara Tomasic.
Ken Ludwig’s Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery is at the Gateway Theatre from April 11 to April 20
PLAYWRIGHT KEN LUDWIG has made a name making audiences laugh in hit shows like Lend Me a Tenor and Moon Over Buffalo. Now Gateway Theatre is preparing to stage his full-on, breakneck comedic take on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic Victorian whodunit The Hound of the Baskervilles.
In Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery, Genevieve Fleming takes a gender-flipping step into the role of Holmes, with Gerry Mackay’s Dr. Watson at her side. They head out to the moors of Devonshire to tackle the mystery surrounding Sir Charles Baskerville’s death, with costars Andrew Cownden, Mack Gordon, and Melissa Oei juggling almost 40 different character-suspects.
Stir spoke to director Barbara Tomasic about a show filled to its rafters with plot twists, quick-change artistry, silly accents, and carefully choreographed mayhem.
What are your own experiences and associations with Sherlock Holmes, and how did you draw on them for this interpretation?
I’m a recent appreciator of murder mysteries, sparked during the pandemic with lots of reading time. I love the challenge of figuring it out and the unfolding of the mysteries, especially in books. I had a bit of an obsession with the Sherlock TV series, the modern one, and I would say that one especially has affected my interpretation of Sherlock and Watson’s complex relationship.
What do you think makes Sherlock Holmes so ripe for comedy?
I think any character, or genre that has characters that have high stakes in their story is great for comedy. Characters who have a great need for a resolution, are great subjects for humour as their behaviour and need for a fast resolution inspires potential for things to go wrong, which in turn makes us laugh. Also Sherlock and Watson are so different, which is great for comedy.
Andrew Cownden, Mack Gordon, and Melissa Oei take on nearly 40 different characters—including murder suspects, heirs to the Baskerville fortune, bellhops, and butlers. Can you give us an idea of the logistical feat of directing them all and keeping track of who’s who?
Truly, this cast is phenomenal—and together, we have worked through keeping track of all of the people. They are all so gifted at accents and physical changes in character, so they create very specific people who are easy (and funny) to identify.
Without giving anything away, what’s fun about doing a show that has transparency—that’s not afraid to reveal its theatrical machinations, instead of hiding them?
I think the audience loves to see actors work onstage, and it is so fun to acknowledge the playfulness of what happens onstage and backstage. It allows us to not take things too seriously, and include the audience in our fun.
Would we be correct to assume that staging this has been a blast?
It has, and again, this group of actors has made it easy and full of fun. Having a great team is imperative to the joy of making theatre! 
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