Stage Review - A Sherlock Carol (Taproot Theatre)

Stage Review - A Sherlock Carol
Presented By: Taproot Theatre - Seattle, WA
Show Run: November 26 - December 30, 2025
Date Reviewed: Tuesday, December 2, 2025
Run Time: 2 Hours (including a 15-minute intermission)
Reviewed By: Greg Heilman

Moriarty was dead, to begin with. That line feels oddly appropriate for the season, even if it sounds like I’ve mixed up my literary universes. But trust me, I haven’t. Scan the local theatre listings and you’ll find no shortage of Sherlock Holmes mysteries, and this month you can practically trip over productions of A Christmas Carol. Dickens is everywhere. But of all the variations, reinventions, and holiday mashups I could have predicted, A Sherlock Carol was not one of them. Yet here it is, on stage at Taproot Theatre through December 30, directed by Bretteney Beverly and bringing together two literary giants who normally occupy very separate corners of the bookshelf.

The play sets up an intriguing question from the very beginning: where exactly is this story going? By the end of Act I, it’s genuinely unclear whether we’re heading into a full-fledged Sherlock Holmes mystery or drifting into the supernatural moral journey of A Christmas Carol. The answer, it turns out, is a little bit of both. Holmes begins the story struggling to do what he does best, his mind clouded by isolation and the lingering absence of a worthy nemesis. But that’s when Ebenezer Scrooge—yes, Dickens’s Ebenezer Scrooge—steps in, taking Holmes under his wing and giving him the same spirited treatment he once needed himself.

The result is a play that showcases the talent Bretteney has assembled for A Sherlock Carol, and while the Holmes mystery may feel a bit diluted in comparison to more traditional adaptations, the transformative nature of Holmes’s journey—guided by the once bitter old miser—is right in line with what Dickens hoped to achieve in his original tale of redemption.

Taproot’s production moves confidently through its blend of mystery, whimsy, and sentimentality. The cast navigates the shifting tones with admirable agility, especially the ensemble of William Eames, Arika Matoba, Jonathan Swindle (appearing as Actor 3 in the understudy role for Tyler Campbell), and Helen Harvester—each stepping into multiple characters, men and women alike, shifting accents and physicality with ease. Their rapid costume and character changes happen almost in the blink of an eye, supported beautifully by Erica Manzano’s costume design, which provides clear visual cues that make each transformation instantly readable. And just as crucial is the work of dialect coach Leah Fishbaugh, whose guidance allows the actors to pivot from one accent to another with remarkable speed. Those vocal shifts often require even more agility than the physical costume changes, and the ensemble handles them with impressive precision.

Bretteney also builds a great deal of movement into this production, something that keeps the pace dynamic—rapid when Holmes is on the scent, and more measured in moments that require emotional weight. The ensemble handles this physicality with confidence. It’s a kind of choreography, really: props moving on and off, characters shifting in and out, costumes changing in seconds, accents shifting just as quickly. Each actor excels in every role they take on, though there are individual highlights along the way, including William Eames as Doctor Tim Cratchit (no longer tiny), Helen Harvester as Irene Adler—here the Countess of Morcar—Jonathan Swindle as, yes, Scrooge’s housekeeper Mrs. Dilber, and Arika Matoba as one of Holmes’s “Irregulars” and as Mrs. Windigate, the tavern-keeper. Each brings a unique flair to the many characters they portray.

At the center is Aaron Lamb as Sherlock Holmes, portraying him as a haunted, bitter, and deeply lonely detective—someone who has pushed Watson away and now sits uneasily with the void left by Moriarty. Aaron taps into Holmes’s emotional fracture: a man whose brilliance isolates him as much as it elevates him. His haunted moments are punctuated by sharp lighting and sound cues that signal each intrusion of memory or spirit, creating transitions that cleverly blur the line between Holmes’s inner world and reality. It’s a different Holmes, a darker and more tortured Holmes, and one that Aaron is uniquely skilled to bring to life on the stage.

One of the production’s most memorable theatrical moments arrives in the opening of Act II, when Andrew Litzky’s Scrooge appears—cloaked in black, framed by a wash of light—and attempts to impart the lessons that once saved him. Andrew brings a presence reminiscent of some of the best Scrooges I’ve seen, and it’s a treat to watch this new, improved Ebenezer—but even more so when the audience catches brief, flickering glimpses of the man he once was. It’s a surprisingly emotional scene, grounding the story in earnestness just when it threatens to drift into pure whimsy. And it’s here that Bretteney’s direction shines most clearly: the play never loses its sense of fun, but it also never forgets that its heart lies in transformation.

The production’s design work is notably strong across the board. Mark Lund’s scenic and sound design establishes a London of grit and atmosphere: a stage painted like cobblestone streets, brick building facades rising into a silhouette of the London skyline, a single gas streetlamp anchoring the scene, and textured windowpanes that resemble hand-blown glass. Amanda Sweger’s lighting design complements this beautifully, with warm period glows in domestic settings and crisp shifts that mark Holmes’s recollections or hauntings. The lighting transitions, particularly those from memory to real time, are subtle yet effective, guiding the audience through Holmes’s fractured state with visual clarity.

At its core, A Sherlock Carol reveals itself to be a thoughtful combination of genres, and Taproot’s production embraces that fusion with sincerity and craft. It doesn’t aim to be the most complex Holmes mystery, nor the most traditional Christmas Carol. Instead, it uses both worlds to tell a story about redemption, companionship, and the possibility of change—even for those who believe themselves beyond it.

Taproot Theatre’s A Sherlock Carol is a charming, warm, and cleverly executed holiday mystery that balances laughter, heart, and a hint of Victorian spookiness. With a strong ensemble, thoughtful design, and a director who understands both Doyle’s sharpness and Dickens’s sentiment, it’s a festive and engaging addition to the holiday theater season. It’s a mashup well worth catching before it vanishes into the fog of London when the calendar turns to a new year.

A Sherlock Carol runs through December 30 Taproot Theatre’s Jewell Mainstage. For more information, including ticket availability and sales, visit https://taproottheatre.org/.

Photo credit: Robert Wade