The Making of My Dear Watson: A Q&A with choreographer Joshua L. Peugh
The following Q&A has been extracted from a podcast interview conducted by Erin Prange, Saint Louis Dance Theatre (STLDT) Executive Director, with choreographer Joshua L. Peugh on January 30, 2023. The interview was part of The Big Muddy Dance Chatter podcast episode "The Making of Joshua L. Peugh's My Dear Watson." Note, for those new to our company, STLDT was once known as The Big Muddy Dance Company, which is why you'll hear references to Big Muddy within the podcast recording.
Q: What inspired "My Dear Watson"?
A: It began during COVID when I had just taken a long car trip with my partner where we listened to Sherlock Holmes stories. During early rehearsals with the dancers, I mentioned this, and one dancer expressed excitement about Holmes being one of his childhood favorites. This sparked my curiosity about iconic characters and what makes them endure through generations.
Q: How did you approach adapting Sherlock Holmes for dance?
A: I wanted to stick to the novels and short stories written by Arthur Conan Doyle and let them inform the project, but without using those specifically for a narrative. I tried to find a new narrative—our own—while keeping it inside the canon's parameters, exploring what makes Sherlock Holmes interesting even now, even to a community in St. Louis, Missouri.
Q: The music is an original score. How was that developed?
A: Composer Brandon Carson and I discussed music that would be relevant to Victorian England, focusing on street music, gypsy sounds, and the violin (which Holmes played). Brandon incorporated accordion to capture both street music sounds and darker, more sinister qualities. The score evolved alongside the choreography, with tracks being added, removed, and rearranged throughout the creative process.
Q: How collaborative was the development process?
A: Extremely collaborative. From the creative team to the dancers, everyone contributed to excavating what the show would become. The costume designer created mood boards that influenced movement choices, including the concept of a "red thread" that became woven throughout the production. If everybody isn't invested in the process and in the material the same way, then we're not getting the full possibility of what it could be.
Q: How did you develop the narrative structure?
A: I was struggling to create an original narrative, so I had the dancers play a game called "Mafia." You pick two people to be the mafia, and everyone else is a villager. Everyone closes their eyes, and the mafia picks people to murder in the night. When everyone wakes up, you have to guess who the murderer is. The two dancers playing Sherlock and Watson observed and took notes. I went home and started building the narrative from exactly what happened in that game. We deviated pretty far, pretty quickly, but it gave me the confidence and structure to start.
Q: Why did you incorporate themes of queer identity into the production?
A: Many of the male dancers in the company are queer men, as am I. The production explores queer masculinity in the 1800s, informed by historical research, including discoveries about secret balls and gatherings from that era. Character names were even drawn from newspaper reports of a raided ball where men had dressed in Elizabethan women's costumes.
Q: What do you hope audiences take away from the production?
A: My number one priority is not to necessarily answer questions or solve things for people, but to send them out with more questions. I want the work to leave the lobby. People can take it as something beautiful and fun that they really enjoyed—and that's it. But I also want to plant seeds that itch at people. If I'm doing my job the way that I want to be doing it, that's what happens.
Want to hear the full interview? The complete podcast episode includes not just Joshua L. Peugh but also composer Brandon Carson and costume designer Elizabeth Bourgeois discussing their collaborative contributions to the production.
My Dear Watson returns to the stage as Program A of STLDT's (RE)Fine spring concert, taking place May 30-31, 2025, at COCA's Catherine B. Berges Theatre. Joshua L. Peugh's inventive take on Arthur Conan Doyle's iconic detective blends intricate choreography with theatrical intrigue, transforming perceptions of beloved literary characters and inviting audiences to experience new narratives.
