The reviews are in for “Victorian Ladies’ Detective Collective” at Central Works, and they are terrific! With this cast and creative team, I would be shocked if it went any other way. (Still, you never know.) Sold-out houses also are finding the play hilarious, relevant, and emotionally satisfying. A woman approached me last night to say, “I was very moved.” The very best kind of feedback a playwright can get. (photo: Stacy Ross, Jan Zvaifler, and Chelsea Bearce, by J. Norrena)
The Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle has awarded the production its “Go See!” designation.
Read on for reviews:
“Enticingly fun to watch … The real beauty of Patricia Milton’s fresh-off-the-press script (she says in the program that she finished it during the Brett Kavanaugh hearings) is that this captivating mystery and commentary about men’s societal disregard for both women’s safety and sagacity is peppered with ongoing, laugh-out-loud humor.” Four and a half stars (of five). TheatreEddys
“Audiences attending The Victorian Ladies’ Detective Collective can expect an exhilarating ride as Milton’s signature fast-paced, deeply-researched style tells the story of two sisters who run a boarding house for Single Ladies in London, but find vocational distraction as self-appointed investigators … A bone-chilling and unexpectedly hilarious thriller.” Lou Fancher, East Bay Express
“… a charming tale of mayhem and murder … an entertaining story with wit and a modern sensibility.” Emily S. Mendel, Berkeleyside
“These ladies give Sherlock Holmes a run for his coattails! They are fighting against a patriarchal system that wants them to fail... Central Works keeps us laughing and guessing. We are witnesses to women breaking new ground.” Evelyn Aravalo, Theatrius
“The play takes on topical and political subjects and looks at them comprehensively… brainy, but in a very entertaining way.” Jamie Robles, The Piedmont Post
“Milton’s dialogue is richly enjoyable throughout, a sort of lovingly playful homage to Victorian literature’s penchant for wordiness. The whodunnit aspect cleverly incorporates the genre staple of a coded message for the audience to puzzle over alongside the heroines. Never far beneath the surface — indeed, poking through at every opportunity — is the toxic masculinity that’s the real villain of the piece, and one that will not be vanquished by solving the murder mystery.” Sam Hurwitt, San Jose Mercury News/East Bay Times
“A gifted writer with a biting sense of humor who often focuses on stories of female empowerment, The Victorian Ladies’ Detective Collective may be one of [Milton’s] best efforts to date … two of the script’s shining assets are the intelligence with which its narrative has been crafted and the skill with which each plot twist has been planted.” George Heymont, HuffPo and My Cultural Landscape
“Despite the serious subject and the grisly deaths happening offstage, humor permeates the play, so the audience gets plenty of chances to laugh. The result? A wonderful balance of a whodunit, a charming period piece, a consciousness-raising experience, and a greatly entertaining evening of theater!” blogger Tanya Grove
“Stacy Ross, Jan Zvaifler, Chelsea Bearce, and Alan Coyne do justice to Patricia Milton’s snappy, fast- moving, intelligent and often humorous dialogue.” Gaetana Caldwell-Smith, For All Events
A Theatre Bay Area-Recommended Production! The TBA Awards are the Bay Area’s first ever peer-adjudicated theatre awards. They recognize and celebrate excellence in the Bay Area’s diverse, dynamic theatre scene.