Magic, mayhem, history and mystery like you’ve never experienced is astounding audiences of all ages at Theatre Lab‘s expanded new home at the Marleen Forkas Studio One Theatre of Florida Atlantic University. That’s where our most popular, family-oriented local playwright Gina Montét (of last year’s Heebie Jeebies fame) was once again commissioned to create a new play for the Lab’s annual Heckscher Theatre for Families series. Her play would also serve as Theatre Lab’s 2026/27 inaugural season opener, marking the notable new-play destination’s 21st world premiere production!
I’ll say it upfront. I’m still amazed at how the playwright, working together with the play’s director, Theatre Lab’s incredible producing artistic director Matt Stabile, managed to pull off what almost seems impossible. Namely, devising an original Sherlock Holmes-inspired play that’s loaded with laughs, camp, satire, but also steeped in science and social mores, historical fiction, adventure, mysterious challenges, beautiful and awe-inspiring scenery, tumult … and baked within all that an uplifting message on how to live your best life!
In short, Theatre Lab’s BAKER STREET BEGINNINGS by Gina Montét is a gloriously inventive 75 minutes (no intermission) theatrical experience that can truly be relished by anyone 8 to 88 at so many different levels! And whatever level you arrive at, the experience is guaranteed to not only be immensely entertaining, but also expand your mind, move your heart, and maybe even change you for the better.
When the playwright was tasked with creating an origin story about the doctor/surgeon/ophthalmologist but mostly highly prolific writer, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of the world’s most iconic fictional detective, Sherlock Holmes (featured in four novels and 56 short stories from 1887 to 1927), she felt the play’s focus should reflect the early life of the great writer and be a mystery. Having never penned a mystery before, she also looked to Doyle for advice on how to write one. Then went with his dictum of “You always start it at the end.”
But oh what a colorful cast of characters – both historic and stars from fiction – we meet till we get to solve its central mystery! Famous real-life characters include the writer, “Arthur” Conan Doyle as a young doctor apprentice, mention of Queen Victoria who ruled in 1875, contemporary female literary greats like the Brontë sisters but also a young Bram Stoker (who would go on to create the gothic horror novel Dracula). Another key character who was a great influence on young Arthur’s life was his early medical mentor and professor Doctor Joseph Bell, who both the writer and fellow students at his alma mater, Edinburgh University, recognize as the inspiration and model for Sherlock Holmes.
The key female character in the play, Emmeline Pankhurst, is based on a relentless real-life suffragette who fought for equality for women. I hadn’t heard of her before, and was thrilled to see her resurrected here with all her defiance and spunk saved from historical obscurity. Emmeline’s character is but one example of why I recommend this outrageously zany satirical spoof to older generations who can appreciate more of its multiple layers of references and allusions.
Still, Theatre Lab certainly knows how to attract a younger audience. Definitely bring the kids a half hour or more early to partake in free, fun, interactive activities. Kids and the young at heart (though if it’s busy, please let the children play first) are invited to attend Baker Street Detective Academy where they’re encouraged to get hands-on dirty at “Detective Science” stations featuring slime-making, a Fingerprint Forensic Lab, and Chemical Investigations. There are also plenty of printed sheets of Baker Street word puzzles, a Sherlock Holmes crossword, as well as markers and crayons for coloring scenes and characters from the play. The kids were so engrossed during my Sunday visit, I wondered if their parents would have trouble pulling them away for the show!
But then I did see many of them seated up front and entranced by the wild opening scene wherein young, vulnerable doctor’s apprentice Arthur (Jonathan White) is being held upside down by his feet by a burly angry patient (Actor 6 – Gustavo Garcia) while Dr. Bell (Actor 4 – Daniel Llaca) attempts to calm him down. It’s a silly, completely unexpected comedic action skit. When Arthur is finally released and allowed to administer a numbing injection, the young student doctor learns, to his chagrin, that the shot must go in Scottish farmer Mycroft’s bum where he’s rewarded by a loud fart. (Yup, a fart joke! Now we’ve really got the youngsters’ attention!). When a huge splinter is subsequently pulled out of the man’s shoulder, providing instant pain relief, the brutish farmer declares his eternal gratitude to the young doctor and secretly decides to be his protector.
Mycroft also serves as a first lesson in the power of observation. Dr. Bell has Arthur note his occupation from the use of a rope belt in place of a buckle, check fibers in a microscope, and even expands on his most vital piece of advice: Loyal friends are life’s biggest asset. As we’ll see, shy, nerdy, and definitely unathletic young Arthur can certainly use allies, collects some along his mystery-solving way, with Mycroft’s sharp, protective instincts eventually put to good use in saving Arthur’s behind.
All of the play’s young actors boast serious local (and some regional) credits and ace their distinctive roles. Daniel Llaca, Actor 4, is tasked with numerous additional parts, such as Pawnbroker, Constable, and Spiritualist’s Assistant. Meanwhile Gustavo Garcia, Actor 6, who shines primarily as Mycroft, also acts as a Train Porter, Apothecary, and John Hayden Badley, distinguished Headmaster of Corwyn Academy for Boys – a real figure from history who pioneered co-education.
The next multi-role actor we meet is Paige Rogers, Actor 5, who first appears as Violet Smith – ailing, delirious, and in obvious distress – at Dr. Bell’s office, having traveled quite a ways to see the great healer. (We’ll discover further distinctive character portrayals when Paige Rogers plays spiritualist and séance leader Madame Florence Cook and the strict Headmistress of Emmeline’s Brackenstall School for Girls.)
Violet conveys the warning that Emmeline must be “saved from the lions” and being murdered, which kicks off the play’s mystery quest. Arthur’s instant diagnosis of “nervous hysteria,” the one most commonly attributed to women at the time, is immediately struck down by Dr. Bell who instructs him to utilize the science of careful observation. Based on her raggedy coat and calloused hands, they deduce that she’s a housemaid, discover a clue in a London pawnshop receipt, and then ascertain her delirium is caused by chemical poisoning. Next thing you know, penniless Arthur sneaks onto a train bound for London to find Emmeline.
As luck would have it, when “stowaway” passenger Arthur attempts to elude the ticket-checking conductor, he shows creative spirit by ducking into a young lady’s compartment, grabbing her shawl and book to hide his face, and pretending he’s a fellow female passenger. Out of all the places in Great Britain, Arthur had managed to escape detection by joining the compartment of Emmeline, the very object of his search! Luckily, she’s so amused by the young man’s nerve that she doesn’t give him away. And he’s surprised to see she’d been reading a science book; the same one he himself had studied for his university entrance exam. But how can that be? She’s a girl! Emmeline is quick to assure him women now have that right, forcefully stating: “It’s 1875. These are modern times!”
Emmeline confirms Violet was a much-loved housemaid at her school, and can’t imagine why anyone would want to harm her. Then adds she’d made frequent trips to London to acquire a special metal polish. As for the six female classmates originally scheduled to take the university exam, two had fallen ill and now they were four. From that point on, Clare Bawarski is constantly onstage, delivering an impeccable performance as the strong (she even possesses combat skills), determined and self-assured Emmeline Pankhurst. A young firebrand of a woman one can’t ignore and, at least now, a historical figure one will likely never forget.
There’s a final, major character whose entrance and flashy ongoing presence can’t help but add excitement, and often humor, to all subsequent scenes. I’m speaking of the playwright’s brilliant idea of introducing a young Bram Stoker (pre-Dracula fame) to the mix of young investigators committed to solving the mystery of Violet’s illness and protecting Emmeline. And we get to watch two nascent world-famous writers, Arthur Conan Doyle and Bram Stoker, band together to solve a mystery while exhibiting some recognizable traits of their greatest fictional inventions.
Scene-stealer Bram is played with great dramatic flair and exuberance by Doriyan Caty. Bram enters every scene with a wide sweep of his black and shiny, red-lined cape (one can’t help but think of Dracula whose swashbuckling moves he emulates … minus the fangs). Despite yearning for nothing more than visiting a graveyard in their search, he remains a disarmingly charming, even giggly team player who actively contributes to the group’s mission, though he is delighted when he finally gets his chance at a cemetery investigation!
Arriving at Kings Cross railway station in the evening, we get another chance to admire the idealized storybook London stage set by scenic designer Michael McClain that continues to serve as an impressive backdrop to all the action. I especially loved watching the lit-up glow of gaslights by lighting designer Eric Nelson (who also wowed us with shooting science experiment flames, and when ethereal blue-green shades of mercury poisoning, “like The Mad Hatter,” suffused the stage. Of course, everything was accompanied by Matt Corey’s pitch-perfect sound design. Maybe I’m extra-suggestible, but I swear Corey had me feeling the rumble of moving trains at Kings Cross through vibrations in my seat!
Projection designer Manny Zaldivar did an excellent job in changing overhead signs and providing more detailed lower “windows” to make sure we were kept informed about where our heroes had landed, aided by properties designer Aubrey Rodriguez’s movable physical additions to the set. Costume designer Dawn C. Shamburger with hair and makeup designer Casey Sacco perfectly reflected how members of varying stations in life appeared during the Victorian era. These two were especially effective in creating distinct looks for Actors 4, 5, and 6 in their diverse roles. And through all the many changes in looks and locales, stage manager Gianella Yañez Camino kept everything moving like clockwork.
