Director Fred Sullivan Jr. says the title of the Lyric Stage’s new production reveals it all: “The Game’s Afoot: Holmes for the Holidays.”

“When I first heard it, I was like, ‘Oh, jeez,” Sullivan told the Herald. “But ‘The Game’s Afoot’ is thrilling and then the subtitle, ‘Holmes for the Holidays,’ is kind of stupid silly.”

Thrilling and stupid silly is fast becoming a hallmark of Sullivan’s collaborations with the Lyric. A year ago, he directed “The Play That Goes Wrong” — a comedy of errors, an homage to vaudeville and a hilarious disaster, the production had crackerjack timing, dozens of witty puns, absurd pratfalls, clever sight gags, and elevated the lowly spit-take to an art form. This year we are back at a mysterious mansion for more foul play and fumbling detective work.

Writer Ken Ludwig’s “The Game’s Afoot: Holmes for the Holidays,” now through Dec. 17, peeks in at a December 1936 holiday party at the Connecticut castle of actor William Gillette, the man who originated Sherlock Holmes on stage and screen. Guests arrive for a weekend of glamour and glitz and… murder! (Oh, and lots of laughs.)

“This is equally over the top (as “The Play That Goes Wrong”),” Sullivan said with a chuckle. “There are several attempted murders and full-throttled murders on stage. There’s a lot of thunder and lightning and blackouts… It’s clever and witty. It has slapstick and farce elements.”

Gillette was a real person, a sort of actor-manager precursor to Laurence Olivier and Orson Welles. Much of how we view Holmes comes from Gillette’s vision of the character.

“He added the deerstalker cap, the traveling cloak, the curved pipe, he was the originator of the phrase, ‘Elementary my dear Watson,’” Sullivan said.

Ludwig uses a lot of Gillette’s rich and odd history in his play. He also, smartly, tosses it out when it doesn’t work.

“They aren’t British but the inspector is for some reason, of course there’s a lot of things Ken Ludwig adds that don’t make sense,” Sullivan said. “Gillette was 80 in the year he set this in but in the play he’s 40. Anything that didn’t fit what he was trying to do he said, ‘(expletive) it, this is fantasy farce.’ But the way he put it together is art.”

Hopefully this fall tradition of Sullivan directing something uproarious continues (“Noises Off,” or “La Cage aux Folles” or “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead” for 2024). The theater scene needs to have a broad appeal, and thankfully it does, at least this fall. The Lyric put “The Game’s Afoot” between heavier stuff, “Assassins” and “Trouble in Mind.” And while the Lyric gets wacky, theaters around town offer “Real Women Have Curves,” “The Band’s Visit” and “The Rocky Horror Show.” Companies seem to see that heady productions and escapism need to come in equal measures.

Sullivan went to see Gillette’s actual house in Connecticut to prepare for the play. There he met someone else touring the house and explained what brought him to the castle.

“I told him that (the show) was kind of thrilling and silly and he said, ‘And that’s just what we need right now,’” Sullivan said.

For tickets and details, visit lyricstage.com.