Review: The Game's Afoot by The Stage
by Brian Paul Scipione

 

“Come, Watson, come!' he cried. 'The game is afoot. Not a word! Into your clothes and come!' Ten minutes later we were both in a cab and rattling through the silent streets on our way to Charing Cross Station.”

― Arthur Conan Doyle, The Return of Sherlock Holmes   

 

“Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more, or close the wall up with our English dead. (….) I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips, straining upon the start. The game’s afoot: follow your spirit; and upon this charge, Cry ‘God for Harry! England! and Saint George!’”

― William Shakespeare, Henry V     

 

The game, as in game animals such as rabbits, ducks, and pheasants, are afoot, as in, they are on their feet and running away. In Ken Ludwig’s play of the same name, the game is whoever done it in this whodunit, or technically, who did it . . . Such word play is the strongest component of this literary geek’s loving send-up of murder mystery plays, which won the 2012 Edgar® Award for Best Play from The Mystery Writers of America. This was also the last year that the Mystery Writers of America granted a Best Play Award (but that is a mystery for another day). The Game’s Afoot is a parody on multiple levels. Earlier critical reviews have suggested that the play has an identity crisis; it doesn’t know if it wants to be a farce or a legitimate mystery. However, I think that like most things, it can be more than one thing at the same time. It is a murder mystery that honors and mocks murder mysteries by being a murder mystery, but also by being an outrageous murder mystery.

 

The play revolves around legendary Sherlock Holmes actor William Gillette. Ludwig imagines that after surviving a murder attempt during the curtain call of his latest dramatic triumph, Gillette invites key members of the theatrical community to spend the Christmas holidays at his castle in Connecticut, only to be roped into solving a murder done in his own home.  It is clear that Gillette’s an eccentric artist on par with Howard Hughes, and his deepest fantasies are coming true. Why else would he build a house with hidden passageways and multiple surveillance devices? It's the ultimate fan-boy fantasy come to life, the chance fully to  embody his hero Sherlock Holmes in real life after years of doing it on stage.

 

This play is playful on so many levels, and the players gleefully play along. The Stage Austin has solidified its reputation for productions in which they establish the perfect balance between heartfelt meaningfulness and wild entertainment, and this offering is no different. The first act moves rapidly and is filled with delightful exposition and many humorous asides. The second act, however, seems to slow down this pace considerably and is almost plodding. One imagines that Ludwig intentionally composed it this way in order to send up the classic final scenes of murder mysteries —you know, the ones that have built their intensity on the premise that the audience or reader has firm opinions on who the actual murderer is, only to have the rug pulled out from under them. In The Game’s Afoot that tension is muted by the lack of any blatant suspects. Which isn’t to say that most of the guests don’t have a motive for murder—they almost all do—but by design, all of them seem equally unlikely.

 

Darren Scharf as the eccentric but endearing William Gillette commands the stage with a performance so epic it's worthy of the great Shakespeare romps or the madcap Marx Brothers movies. As always, his accent work is compelling. Though the role calls for quite a bit of hamminess, he never takes it over the top. Scharf anchors an incredible cast, and they appropriately vie for everyone’s attention at every possible moment, as veteran actors are wont to do. Suzanne Balling as the theater critic Daria Chase, is electric as the smilingly sinister foil to Gillette’s whimsical meanderings. No still waters here! She incisively cuts down the egos of all those around her, a Dorothy Parker with fangs. It would be tempting to say she steals the show, but that just isn’t possible in a cast stacked with so much talent. The arrival of the theater critic at a holiday party full of performers is akin to a fox being set loose in the chicken coop. And while feathers don’t fly, the physical comedy and the rapid advancement of the plot is very engaging. Here's a play without comic relief because it is all comedy from start to finish.

 

This takes place on a gorgeous set by Michael Stuart that fantastically sets the tone and setting of a mansion on the Connecticut River in the 1930s. Ludwig has overloaded this play with literary references, Shakespeare quotes, and murder mystery mentions. Altogether, this is a lot to take in, but the production is rich enough to entice you to repeat viewings to untangle it. For example, the clever dénouement is electrifying but a bit jarring. Viewers ask themselves: Did I miss something? Also, the dynamics of the relationship of the various actors are so intriguing they deserve more time. Rarely does a zany comedy have so much character development.

 

To quote the line Ludwig gives to Gillette: “I treat life as the most serious game ever invented.” What we have here is a night of very serious silliness.

 

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The Game's Afoot
by Ken Ludwig
The Stage

March 20 -  April 12, 2026