Preview: The Hound of the Baskervilles

I wrote a play for last summer’s Shorts about the friendship between Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and the famous strongman, Eugen Sandow. In the course of the play they conjured a story that might have been The Hound of the Baskervilles with a terrifying beast and high jinks in the moorland fog. So when I was looking for something to submit for this year, I thought I would look to see if there was a play version of The Hound of the Baskervilles.

There turned out to be several to choose from, most serious, and this, which most definitely is not. I was very taken with the idea of doing a classic story told in a non-classic way with a small, versatile cast. The company that originated it, Peepolykus, has a strong tradition in clowning, and a lot of that carries through to the way that the story is told here.

There is the haughty Sherlock Holmes ‘the greatest detective of all time’ (Caroline Doyle) and his faithful sidekick, Dr John Watson (Tom Watts). Then there’s Sir Charles Baskerville (formerly of Baskerville Hall) and his hearty successor, Sir Henry Baskerville, apparently a Canadian (both Adam Crook). Once Sir Henry and Watson travel down to Dartmoor we meet endless West Country yokels (everyone), as well as Mr and Mrs Barrymore, dedicated servants at Baskerville Hall (both Caroline Doyle). Sir Henry and Watson keep meeting Stapleton, the local naturalist, and his beauteous sister, Cecile (both Caroline Doyle).

It’s been very enjoyable and very funny – with a fair bit of heavy duty perspiration, which definitely goes beyond a mere ‘glow’! There’s a lot of running round, changing character, voice and appearance in the course of just seconds. The cast have fantastic chemistry and comedic timing, and a willingness to do pretty much anything to further the story.

We’ve been trying to make the scene and character changes as seamless as possible, but with a willingness to break the fourth wall when necessary. We’ve been working with some classic comic tropes which I’m afraid I find hilarious, and Lee (Ridgeway, AD) and I are still laughing at certain scenes and lines even when we must have seen them dozens of times by now. There’s a bit of Laurel and Hardy and Abbott and Costello in the relationship between Watson and Sir Henry which we hope the audience will enjoy.

I hope they will laugh a lot and enjoy this very unserious homage to Conan Doyle’s classic story.

Spooky, silly, sweaty.

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