Ludwig’s script meanders too much inside a first act which establishes the sometimes predictable rigor of a tighter and funnier Act 2. Murder, mystery and madcap mayhem are all brought forth with shimmering glee within director Mark Anderson Phillips’ purposeful staging. It’s as if there are prizes for those who can quote the Bard faster and more often than the other.Ĭity Lights Theater Company’s production of Ken Ludwig’s “The Game’s Afoot Or Holmes for the Holidays,” in which a party at the actor’s castle becomes its own murder mystery, holds its own in the comic genre, delving into three distinct subtexts. William Shakespeare’s multitude of transformative quotes are on this gathering’s agenda, provided by the guests who attempt desperately to out-Hamlet each other. The errant knaves who occupy the grand living room of William Gillette, an actual star of stage and screen, love to deep-dive into their own pedanticism.