PaperHouse Puts the 'Her' in Sherlock 

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• [Top left to right] Nicia Carla, Angie Chandler, Chaz Pofahl. [Bottom left to right] Beery Newkirk, Andrea King. (Photo by Chad Calvert)

Nicia Carla has made it her business to know Sherlock Holmes. For instance, she knows The Sherlock Project, PaperHouse Theatre's latest immersive and interactive adventure at The Frock Shop, cannot skimp on the props.

Sherlock's pipe, violin and magnifying glass are no mere bric-a-brac one finds at 221B Baker Street, the lodgings the great detective shares with his steadfast companion Dr. John Watson. For the legion of hardcore Holmes aficionados, these items are totems, almost magical items Sherlock uses to impose order on a chaotic, crime-ridden universe. The magnifying glass pinpoints clues that lesser minds are sure to miss. The violin comes into play when Holmes grapples with a particularly puzzling clue. And for extremely knotty problems, the master of deduction fires up the contemplative clay pipe.

So, Carla's got all that stuff covered — but she's also added an accoutrement that Sherlock fans do not normally associate with the world's most famous consulting detective. This version of Sherlock Holmes has a vagina.

"When I first got the idea to do The Sherlock Project, I knew Sherlock was going to be a woman," Carla says. The PaperHouse Theatre artistic director and producer and director of the show is speaking by phone as she walks the bustling hallways of North Mecklenburg High School where she has been teaching Theater Arts since mid-February. Upon reaching the relative quiet of her office, she settles in to talk about putting the "her" in Sherlock. Carla admits she was surprised that in all the iterations of Sherlock essayed in books, films and TV shows; she hadn't encountered a female Holmes. She asked herself, "Why not?"

"Sherlock is direct, unapologetic and intelligent," Carla explains, attributes we usually give to a man. "Often if a woman is that way, we find it less attractive, even abrasive." Holmes' self-assurance, which can border on arrogance, is also part of the character's charm, Carla feels.

"That's why a client goes to Sherlock, " she reasons. "Sherlock is certain. Sherlock is going to know how to figure things out."

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• [Clockwise form top left] Berry Newkirk, Angie Chandler, Chaz Pofahl and Andrea King. (Photos by Chad Calvert)

Befitting its title, The Sherlock Project is a playful experiment, so Carla wondered what those attributes — intelligence, confidence and self-assurance — would look like in a woman. She asked herself if a female Sherlock would be demure and apologetic. The answer was a resounding no. A diffident air would not be in keeping with the character first introduced by Arthur Conan Doyle in the 1887 story "A Study in Scarlet."

"Sherlock can't stop being Sherlock," Carla explains. "She can't help it that she's brilliant."

Though Carla and her collaborators flipped the script on Sherlock's sex, there was never any doubt that Watson would remain masculine.

"Watson is comfortable with being number two," Carla says. "He has that helper quality, which so often in movies, plays and life, we attribute to women." Drawing on her background as a drama teacher, Carla explains the relationship between Watson and Holmes in acting terms, primarily the ideas of status — which character is preeminent in any given situation.

"Not only does Sherlock take status, but Watson gives Sherlock status. It takes a lot of grace to do that." In Conan Doyle's stories, we see Holmes through Watson's eyes, Carla maintains, and that conceit carries through to film and TV versions. Watson is the lens through which we view Sherlock.

"We only know Sherlock is brilliant because Watson tells us that Sherlock is brilliant."

In the Sherlock Holmes stories and shows, even the most ghastly doings in gas lit, fogbound Victorian England have a cozy feel. So it is fitting that The Sherlock Project will be staged in The Frock Shop, an intimate comfortable dress shop in Plaza Midwood. It's also ideal, Carla says, because the Frock Shop jump-started The Sherlock Project. Two years ago, the troupe staged She Who Watches an adaptation of Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu's lesbian-themed vampire tale "Carmilla," at the Central Avenue dress shop. That was the show that convinced PaperHouse to attempt another Victorian-era adaptation at the venue.

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• The cast at Frock Shop. (photo by Chad Calvert)

"The Frock Shop has it's own personality and presence," Carla explains. "I wondered who would live at this place?" The answer of course was Sherlock.

"It makes sense that Sherlock is here."

Drawing on her family's love of crime fiction — she remembers her mother constantly reading mystery novels — Carla started workshopping The Sherlock Project with a group of collaborators including Rebecca Costas, Karina Caporino, Chester Shepherd, MB Schaffner, Devin Clark, Jenn Grabenstetter, Sarah Provencal, Chaz Pofahl, Andrea King, Angie Chandler Chad Calvert and Kelly Nicholson.

"We approached it like a book club," Carla remembers. Members of the fluid group were assigned stories to read, and then they would meet at Carla's house to discuss the readings and brainstorm for the production. Carla and her cohorts discovered that the canon of Canon Doyle stories is far from consistent. For example, the wound Watson received as a British army doctor in Afghanistan jumps disconcertingly from his shoulder to his leg depending on which story you are reading.

"The timeline in the stories is inconsistent," Carla notes, "so that gave us permission to craft out own timeline." The troupe also rediscovered the sheer fun of reading Sherlock and Watson's adventures.

"I think some of the stories are funny," Carla says. She cites "The Blue Carbuncle," where a would-be thief absconds with a precious gem and hides it in the gullet of a typically English goose at Christmastime. Holmes discovers the theft and lets the failed miscreant go, figuring he's learned his lesson through his failed attempt at grand theft.

"It's like a Doctor Who Christmas Special," says Carla laughing. "It's so silly." Carla also points out that Holmes can be vain, and that she possesses a certain theatrical flair.

"We stage the scene where Sherlock and Watson meet," she continues. "Sherlock has just successfully completed an experiment and she stands up bows to an imaginary audience. It's such a fun and funny thing."

"Sherlock is a genius, but she's not [Star Trek's] Mr. Spock," Carla concludes. "She has a playful side."

For The Sherlock Project, like many of PaperHouse's past productions at the venue, refreshments and snacks will be served, the audience will move about the shop as the show progresses, and their participation will be encouraged. The show starts with an interactive party at 221B Baker Street with puzzles to solve, which are inspired by clues from the Conan Doyle stories, Carla explains. Once the play proper begins, the audience will be asked for the input to move the plat forward, she adds. Carla herself will play Mrs. Hudson, Holmes and Watson's landlady and de facto housemother, the woman who facilitates events and sees to all guests' needs.

"It's a natural part for me," says Carla laughing. "It's fun because I haven't acted in a PaperHouse show in a while."

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• The cast is startled. (Photo by Chad Calvert)

Andrea King portrays Holmes. Carla praises the crispness and clarity King brings to the role, as well her innate likability. Likeability, Carla says is a far more important component to Holmes than people often realize.

"Sherlock feels no need to connect to anyone," Carla explains. "Sherlock doesn't care." That said, the audience must empathize with the great detective, Carla feels. The trick, which King accomplishes through her innate warmth, is to forge a bond without seeming to work for it. Chaz Pofahl also brings comfort and kindness to his role as Watson.

"Chaz has told me, 'I am Watson,'" Carla says. "He has so much comfort with his masculinity that he doesn't need to project it." The cast also includes Angie Chandler and Berry Newkirk who portray multiple characters at a dizzying pace, Carla promises.

Amid all this mayhem and mystery, the emotional core of the material rests with the characters of Holmes and Watson, Carla says. There is an enduring platonic love between them.

"They exist together," she says. "They are at their best together."

There is also a sense of security with Holmes, Carla maintains. We love that Sherlock can solve a mystery with reason and science, and that the solution is not just Sherlock's opinion, she adds.

"Many times Sherlock says be careful about jumping to conclusions because once you've done that, you're going to shape the facts to fit your own understanding. That's an important thing for us to think about now."