BY ALLIE BROWN | The Statesman Upon purchasing my ticket to the UMD Theatre’s production of “The (Curious case of the) Watson Intelligence,” I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. However, I ended up really enjoying the show and came away from it with a lot to think about.
I knew it was about three different Watsons from throughout history (Watson from “Sherlock Holmes”, Alexander Graham Bell’s assistant named Watson, and Watson the supercomputer who competed on “Jeopardy!”) and how they were all helpers, but I didn’t know what the plot would really be about.
The acting was amazing in this show. There were only three actors, and each of them played many different roles. The basic idea of the characters was that they kept being reincarnated through time, in a way, and their lives were interconnected.
Their stories are all connected in very interesting ways throughout the different time periods and it was interesting to see how the time periods they were living in affected their story.
What I thought was so impressive about the acting was the actors’ ability to become these different characters so convincingly.
While all of their characters were basically the same person, they were also products of their times and did have slightly different personalities, as well as different accents, occasionally. It also never felt like watching actors, it felt like the conversations were actually happening in real time right in front of me.
Another thing worth mentioning was the set. I love black box theaters because they allow for really interesting sets. This set had a really cool wall-type structure at the back of it that had things like beds and fireplaces folded up into it so they could be there in some scenes and gone in others.
They also used the same few pieces of furniture over and over again, just moving them around to make the set look different for the different locations.
The play also used a lot of lights and projectors on a screen in the very back of the set to change the mood or setting. All of this was very effective at what it was trying to convey without slowing down the play with crew members moving tons of furniture or changing the backgrounds.
The last thing I want to talk about is the idea of connection presented in this production.
All of the characters were connected with their past and future selves, but they were also very connected to each other.
Watson is described many times as a helper and I really liked what he (as Alexander Graham Bell’s assistant) said: that there are only a few great people in the world, but behind them are many helpers that get lost to history. The helpers were just as important to the great person’s achievements as the great person was, though, so if you can’t be a great person, be a helper.
Overall, I definitely would recommend the play. It was interesting and thought provoking.