Maggie Lou Rader and Shonita Joshi Photo by Scott J. Timmins

The Human Race Theatre Company in Dayton, Ohio (50 or so miles north of Cincinnati), has championed new works for nearly four decades, and it's giving this post-modern tale of elementary observation and deduction a rollicking production, staged by Heather Wilson-Bowlby. Inspired by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's iconic sleuth and his physician partner, Ms. Holmes & Ms. Watson - Apt 2B has a heady feminist filter and a bounty of silly situations, characters, funny language, malapropisms and more. Oh, and some spilled (stage) blood.

American Joan Holmes (Maggie Lou Rader) arrives in London, running away from a dissolved marriage and a crisis of self-doubt in New York City. Sherlock Holmes (Shonita Joshi)–whom housekeeper Mrs. Hudson (Kelly Mengelkoch) insists on calling "Shirley"–relies on an observed clue of how her new apartment mate holds a clipboard to conclude that Watson must be a doctor. It's not until the show's second act that we learn more of Joan's backstory, a strangely serious interpolation into the middle of a zany farce. But there's plenty to keep audiences occupied until then, since "Sherlock" decides that her next case is discovering why Watson is having panic attacks.

Rader does a good job with the somewhat underwritten role of Watson: She's clearly running away from some aspects of her life and would prefer not to be dragged into Holmes's shenanigans. But once things start to heat up, she's all in. Rader, a fine comic actress, makes the most of a role that isn't all that interesting. Conan Doyle's Watson was a drab, rather dull character, and playwright Hamill hasn't given Joan Watson her much more depth.

Joshi's Holmes is a manic genius, cavorting nonstop around the cluttered apartment (2B, of course, a lesser version of "221B Baker Street" in the detective's legendary tales) at one point wearing a fencing mask and brandishing an épée, another moment rooting through cabinets for nuns' costumes to hoodwink another character. She has no use for modern tech, preferring her own mental gymnastics to solve cases. Joshi brings a lot of physical energy to her performance, as well as an expressive face and the kind of intonation of classic lines that we know Holmes to utter, exaggerated to a humorous degree. She makes Holmes a whirling dervish.

Actor Mengelkoch busily plays an array of roles: Mrs. Hudson, Holmes's fussbudget housekeeper; Mrs. Dresser, the elderly widow of a mysteriously murdered man in a bathtub; and most extravagantly, femme fatale Irene Adler, a onetime actor and opera singer (an actual character from "A Study in Scarlet.") She makes a lot of quick changes of costume, body shape and wigs and keeps them all distinct and quite amusing.

The three actresses are regulars on Cincinnati stages who have previously performed for the Dayton theatre company. Mengelkoch and Rader are veterans of many productions at Cincinnati Shakespeare; Joshi has appeared at Ensemble Theatre and the Cincinnati Playhouse. They're an entertaining trio.

Matthew Sierra is another entry into the multiple role department. We meet him first as a pompous emcee who mistakenly introduces the show as a serious tribute to Conan Doyle's oeuvre. Then he reappears as Inspector Lestrade, bumbling police officer with a lot of ulterior motives; Elliott Monk (inspired by questionable tech savant Elon Musk), with his eye on elective office in the U.S.; and eventually as Holmes's archenemy, Moriarty. Like Mengelkoch, he gives clear definition to each oddball character.

If all this sounds like a lot of comedy thrown on a stage, well, it is–perhaps almost too much. Nevertheless, the cast and director Wilson-Bowlby keep it spinning on scenic designer Jeff Heater's littered apartment (with occasional spotlight accents on familiar games like Clue, a Rubik's cube, a chessboard, and more by lighting designer Diane D. Fairchild). At stage right and left are some useful side platforms representing sleazy London hotels where nefarious things happen–one with a bathtub and one with a bed. The set has two pairs of doors, a predictable scenic element of most any farce, that suggest moving from downstairs to the upstairs apartment with a few quick slams. It's always a welcome surprise when Mengelkoch or Sierra appear at the door in one of their fanciful characters.

A bit of online research reveals Hamill's frothy script has had numerous productions over the past two years. It has served as a lightweight summertime comedy for several companies. For Human Race, its proximity to Halloween (there is a skeleton onstage) is likely to be attractive to seasonal celebrants.

Ms. Holmes & Ms. Watson - Apt 2B runs through October 20, 2024, at Human Race Theatre Company, 126 N. Main Street, Dayton OH. For tickets and information, please visit humanracetheatre.org or call 937-228-3630.