SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE ADVENTURE OF THE GHOST MACHINE

by David MacGregor

London: November, 1905. England and the world are changing. As civilization edges towards the horrors of World War I, every day brings new tensions in Europe and technological advances that make Victorian England feel like a distant dream. Into the rooms of Sherlock Holmes come Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison—with new inventions that will alter the course of human history—only both inventions have gone missing. Can Holmes, Watson, and Irene Adler somehow unravel the latest diabolical scheme of Marie Chartier—evil daughter of the late Professor Moriarty? Can world peace be achieved by the most powerful weapon ever created? Can death itself be overcome by a scientific genius? And can Sherlock Holmes survive the greatest personal loss of his career?

Production notes:

Setting: The rooms of Sherlock Holmes.

Time: November, 1905.

Cast:

SHERLOCK HOLMES - Consulting detective in his 30s-50s.

DR. JOHN WATSON - Physician and author in his 30s-50s.

IRENE ADLER - Adventuress in her 30s-50s (although strictly speaking, "A Scandal in Bohemia" has her born in 1858).

MARIE CHARTIER - Adventuress in her late 20s-30s.

NIKOLA TESLA - Serbian-American inventor, 48 years old, but leeway on either side of this is fine.

THOMAS EDISON - American inventor, 58 years old, but leeway on either side of this is fine.

Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Ghost Machine is part of a trilogy of Sherlock Holmes plays, with each play intended to stand entirely on its own. Each play features the same four fictional characters (Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Watson, Irene Adler, and Marie Chartier), but two different historical characters. In terms of chronology, Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Elusive Ear takes place in 1888, Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Fallen Soufflé occurs in 1897, and Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Ghost Machine takes place in 1905.

Author

David MacGregor

David was born in Detroit, Michigan, and graduated from Michigan State University. He is a Resident Artist at The Purple Rose Theatre in Chelsea, MI, where he has had eight productions: The Late Great Henry Boyle (2006), Vino Veritas (2008), Gravity (2010), Consider the Oyster (2011), Just Desserts (2014), Vino Veritas (2017), Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Elusive Ear (2018), and Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Fallen Soufflé (2019). The third and final play in his Sherlock Holmes trilogy, Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Ghost Machine, will premiere at the Purple Rose when it is safe for theatres to reopen.

His holiday comedy, Scrooge Macbeth premiered at Theatre B in Fargo, ND in 2013, and his dark comedy, The Antichrist Cometh, premiered at Chameleon Theatre Circle in Minnesota in 2014.

His plays have been performed from New York to Tasmania, and his work has been published by Dramatic Publishing, Playscripts, Smith & Kraus, Applause, and Heuer Publishing.

In 2013, he adapted his play Vino Veritas into a film, which stars Carrie Preston (True Blood, and .... [FULL BIO]