Written by American playwright and author Madeleine George, The (Curious Case of the) Watson Intelligence was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2014, and is now enjoying a London revival by the 5go Theatre Company.
There are four different threads in this play, leading to a lot of plot and an enormous amount of dialogue for the three strong cast to remember. In each strand, there is a version of ‘Watson’, all played by Hugo Linton: Watson the artificial intelligence; Sherlock Holmes’s sidekick, Dr Watson; Josh Watson, the computer repairman from the ‘Dweeb Team’; and Thomas A Watson, Alexander Graham Bell’s engineering aide. Different accents and minor costume changes distinguish the various Watsons as their stories interweave throughout the play.
When the audience arrives in the auditorium, we find the first Watson sitting silent and unmoving on stage. Representing an AI, this Watson has been painstakingly programmed by scientist/inventor Eliza, who is creating a responsive, digital device that will offer human connection, companionship and help the disadvantaged. Linton plays this computer intelligence brilliantly with a sense of pre-programmed perkiness we are all familiar with from devices like Alexa and Siri.
Eliza is the estranged wife of Frank, played by Brandon Burke – an angry, embittered middle American running for the position of City Auditor – who we met as his computer is being fixed by Watson number two, Josh Watson, the IT repairman. Frank asks this Watson to ‘spy’ on Eliza, which backfires on Frank as the couple meet and fall in love.
Watson version three is the one we all know and love: Dr Watson from the Sherlock Holmes stories, who encounters a woman called Mrs Merrick, the wife of an inventor. She visits 221b Baker Street to ask Sherlock Holmes to investigate her husband’s strange behaviour, but Watson, falling in love with Merrick, picks up the case himself.
The fourth Watson is the engineering assistant to Alexander Graham-Bell, inventor of the first practical telephone. The famous sentence ever spoken into this phone, “Watson, come here, I want you”, is at the heart of this play and is repeated throughout the piece. Thomas Watson is the only non-fictional character in the play, and has some excellent dialogue, encapsulating the playwright’s thesis about how Watsons are the trustworthy companions to great people but never achieve greatness themselves.
The play moves back and forth in time from the 1800s to 2013, weaving together tales of technology, companionship, trustworthiness and love. Some of this is pure science fiction, but the Watson AI is powerfully prescient, and what might have seemed fanciful when the play debuted is now commonplace with voice-responsive assistants and chatbots everywhere. Brandon Burke’s rant, quoting Ayn Rand about the misuse of his tax dollars, also resonates in the age of Make America Great Again, Trump and Elon Musk’s DoG.
The cast does well to deliver this tricky work. Mexican actor Hanna Luna performs all the female roles and is on stage for most of the play. She delivers a very good performance, showing angst, thoughtfulness, anger, and sadness with subtle conviction. Impressive given that English isn’t her first language. Burke is strong as Frank and Mr Merrick, the Victorian inventors, and Linton does well as the AI and Thomas A Watson, but is strangely stiff and rather personality-free as Josh Watson, the computer geek who is meant to be the great love of Eliza’s life. Director Julie Drake’s decision to have Josh speak with an English accent feels wrong, and it would have been better if he were an American, with the AI given a British accent – something a UK audience would recognise from the way our current-day devices actually talk to us.
A word of warning: this play is very American, with many pop-culture and celebrity references, often from over a decade ago, that are going to sail over the heads of many (me included!). The Dweeb Team is modelled on the real-life Geek Squad; there are references to Applebee’s and Blimpies restaurants, the game show Jeopardy appears, and Ask Jeeves is name-checked, etc, etc. I had a lot to look up when I got home – thank goodness I had Alexa to help!
This is an ambitious play delivered with a lot of heart and energy from the cast. Sadly, it managed to feel both rushed at times and dragging elsewhere, and it would benefit from a few tweaks here and there. Nevertheless, it is an interesting piece that features moments of genuine comedy, including some laugh-out-loud lines. It is also quite thoughtful and will make you wonder about the way that technology can enhance or even replace human interaction. The work is somewhat dated and very much of its time in the early 2010s – but the benefit of hindsight makes the play all the more impressive given the political and technological landscape we currently live in.
Review by Fiona Gilbert
A time-jumping love story of the search for “perfect” connection.
Watson: trusty sidekick to Sherlock Holmes; loyal engineer who built Bell’s first telephone; unstoppable super-computer that became reigning Jeopardy! champ; amiable techno-dweeb who, in the present day, is just looking for love.
These four constant companions become one in this brilliantly witty, time-jumping, loving tribute (and cautionary tale) dedicated to the people—and machines—upon which we all depend.
Eliza and Merrick are both still reeling from their marriage breakup, when they both individually encounter Watson and their lives are turned upside down. What is it about him? Is it just that he seems trustworthy? Or is it that he seems to truly see them? Does he just want to help?
Hugo Linton – Watson
Hanna Luna – Eliza
Brandon Burke – Merrick
Written by Madeleine George
Director – Julie Drake
Sound and Lighting – Isabel Melim
Soundscape – Tomis Fras
Graphic Design – Marcus Scudamore
THE (CURIOUS CASE OF THE) WATSON INTELLIGENCE
Rosemary Branch Theatre
28 October to 1 November 2025
