Island Players stage Ken Ludwig’s ‘The Game’s Afoot’

Local fans of playwright Ken Ludwig have a theatrical smorgasbord to choose from this weekend.

Ludwig’s funny comedy “Moon Over Buffalo” is in its second week at the Players Centre for Performing Arts in Sarasota (it runs through Nov. 19). On Thursday, Island Players in Anna Maria opens Ludwig’s equally entertaining show “The Game’s Afoot.”

The play is a farce that combines comedy with a murder mystery. It’s Christmas at the estate of William Gillette, a real-life American stage actor who was best-known for playing Sherlock Holmes on stage and in a silent film. Gillette died in 1937. His estate and castle, the setting of this play, is now a state park in Connecticut.

In Ludwig’s play, Gillette is accidentally shot during a performance and invited his company members to his estate to use their Holmesian detective skills to figure out who shot him. The plot thickens, as they say, when there’s an actual murder during the weekend.

The Island Players production is full of local theater stalwarts. Preston Boyd directs. Mark Woodland is William Gillette, Mary Selke is Martha Gillette, Daniel Greene is Felix Geisel, Judy Glynn is Madge Geisel, Heath Jorgenson is Simon Bright, Pamela Hopkins is Aggie Wheeler, Laura Morales is Inspector Goring and Robin Rhodes is Daria Chase.

Details: Nov. 9-19, Island Players, 10009 Gulf Dr., Anna Maria. 8 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday. 2 p.m. Sunday. $20. Information: 941-778-5755, theislandplayers.org.

This story was originally published November 8, 2017 at 3:08 PM with the headline "Island Players stage Ken Ludwig’s ‘The Game’s Afoot’."