Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Hound of the Baskervilles was adapted for the stage by David Pichette and R. Hamilton Wright… And this time, it’s a dramedy! Featuring the renowned detective team Sherlock Holmes and Watson as they unwrap a terrifying legend of the Southern English countryside, the story unfolds with a curiously wry, Wodehousian injection of British foppery and ‘I say!’ishness, and just a nudging wink of camp—get ready for liberal use of glowing red eyes and fog machines.
“The Hound of the Baskervilles” is at times very creepy, and at other times outrageously funny. But it is perhaps a little overzealous in its story-telling endeavor. Yes, there is a murder mystery to carry the audience’s attention. But there is also a love-story, a class/status narrative, and more lecture-style exposition than a high school history class. Fabulously entertaining, yes, but this is a production neither for the faint-of-heart, nor for the weak-of-attention-span.
The direction, by Allison Narver, is to a large extent exquisitely effective. The space is arranged in visually delighting ways and used beautifully by the actors. Creative, stimulating, and easy-to-watch, there are very few seams in the directing that cry out to be fixed. Transitions are smoothly unnoticeable. There is one rather long chase scene which takes place in what is clearly meant to be a crowded train station, but which is very demonstrably not a crowded anything—meant to be suspenseful, but ending up wanly funny. But all in all, the directorial decisions make for an intense and enjoyable experience
As for the acting, these people are pros who have obviously taken immense delight in their own characters. The relationship between Holmes (Darragh Kennan) and Watson (Andrew McGinn) comes to life in a decidedly modern way, with an English flicker of the pseudo-homoerotic. For those familiar with English mythos and class relations, the other characters bring the old traditions to life as well, from, could it be? An embittered aristocrat with a dirtysecret? To could it be? A grizzled old farmhand with a Dorset-drawl? The performances, as well as the majority of the dialects, are fun, solid, and full of imagination. For those who, like me, tend to leave at intermission rather than suffer through actors stumbling around their linguistic space, this play is a welcome treat. That being said, one (just one) of the dialects, that of the maid Mrs. Barrymore, appears to be a swing-in-the-dark mish-mash of Hagrid from Harry Potter and Eliza Doolittle.
L.B. Morse, the set designer, works apparent miracles. The set, intricate and powerful in its specificity, unfolds from a London flat, to a mansion on the moors, to a foggy quagmire in the blink of an eye. In addition, cunning use of gray-scale projected images not only creates historical context and a pleasing, ‘old-timey’ air, but also important and exciting plot developments. Lighting is clever and strategic. I don’t have much to say on these subjects because they really were, all around, excellent. Oh, and Deborah Trout’s costumes are simply gorgeous. Each one is stunning and lends itself beautifully to the character who wears it.
This production has an overall flavor of the modern that sometimes works in tandem with the Victorian setting, and sometimes works against it. The music exemplifies this well. Paul James Prendergast created a score that creates superb suspense and would not be out-of-place in an edge-of-your-seat action flick. It is well-crafted, moving, and at times, quite unnerving. But… this isn’t a Michael Bay film, it’s a Victorian murder mystery. There are moments when the music fits the narrative beautifully, and then there are moments when the audience thinks to itself, “Strange, I was just watching some foppish nitwits looking befuddled, and now it feels as if a space station might be crashing onto our heads unless someone can defuse the bomb…”
The production brings a playful contemporary flavor to “The Hound of the Baskervilles” while attempting to maintain the insidious darkness inherent in the world of Sherlock Holmes. At times, this endeavor seems a bit too much for this team’s considerable talents to handle. Overall, though, a very funny, very entertaining play that seems to take much less time than its length of 160 minutes.
Presented by Jerry Manning and Benjamin Moore, directed by Allison Narver, “The Hound of the Baskervilles” runs from November 15 to December 15 at the Seattle Repertory Theater. 155 Mercer St, Seattle, WA 98109.
For tickets, call (206) 443-2222
Or visit
http://www.seattlerep.org/Buy/Tickets/Production/4199