(Above: Actors in Cottage Theatre’s production of The Game’s Afoot; front row (left to right), Seth Miller, Darcy Rust, Kory Weimer, Phil Dempsey, and Tracy Brous. The cast also features Nikki Pagniano, Maura Stewart, and Laura Merz.)

By Randi Bjornstad

There’s been a whole lot of great — not to mention classic — theater going on around here lately, including Deathtrap by the Not Ready for Retirement Players and The Very Little Theatre’s production of The Skin of Our Teeth.

Here’s another one — The Game’s Afoot — opening Aug. 11 and running through Aug. 27 at Cottage Theatre in Cottage Grove.

It’s a Sherlock Holmes murder whodunit — but hilarious — that takes place in the Connecticut “castle” of a famous actor, William Gillette, who invites the rest of the cast of his current play to spend a weekend of revelry in the lap of luxury.

All that goes sideways, of course, when one of the guests is murdered.

Actor Gillette, who has played the part of Sherlock Holmes onstage for many years, is convinced that he can solve the crime before the local police, in the person of Inspector Goring, can and before another murder takes place.

As Cottage Theatre’s executive director Susan Goes points out, William Gillette (1853-1937) actually was a real actor who played the part of Sherlock Holmes on various stages more than 1,300 times spanning three decades. So it’s almost but not quite a play-within-a-play.

Written by 73-year-old Ken Ludwig, The Game’s Afoot joins a long list of his plays and musicals, including six on Broadway and seven in London’s West End. Altogether, they number more than 32, which have been produced in more than 20 languages. Theater lore has it that there is a Ludwig play on stage somewhere in the world every day.

Among Ludwig’s other plays are highly regarded productions such as Lend Me a Tenor, Crazy For You, Moon Over Buffalo, The Fox on the Fairway, Leading Ladies, and Murder on the Orient Express.

The Cottage Theatre’s production features director Janet Rust, whose previous directorial forays in Cottage Grove include Oliver! (2019), and Curtains (2017). Bil Morrill is assistant director.

Setting the scene for The Games Afoot is a set designed by Tony Rust, with costumes by Chris Carter and lighting by Amanda Ferguson.

Kory Weimer leads the cast as William Gillette, with Nikki Pagniano as Martha Gillette, along with Phil Dempsey, Tracy Brous, Seth Miller, Darcy Rust, Maura Stewart, and Laurel Merz.

Ever since Rust directed Ludwig’s Moon Over Buffalo at Cottage Theatre in 2014, she has been “looking for an opportunity to bring another of his extremely funny scripts to life on stage.”

“If the audience laughs even half as much as I am at rehearsal every night,” she said, “I will consider this production a resounding success.”

The Game’s Afoot at Cottage Theatre

When: Evenings at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 11-12, 17-19, and 24-26; and 2:30 p.m. matinees on Aug. 13, 20, and 27

Where: Cottage Theatre, 700 Village Drive, Cottage Grove

Tickets: $27 for adults, $15 for youth, available by telephone at 541-942-8001 or online at cottagetheatre.org; advance purchase recommended