Writer: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Adapted by: Steven Canny and John Nicholson
Director: Marieke Audsley
Somehow East Riding Theatre’s inventive, polished and extremely slick production of Steven Canny and John Nicholson’s spoof version of The Hound of the Baskervilles is not quite as funny as it should be. Marieke Audsley hints in the programme that they may have had too much fun in rehearsals, but she’s probably being over-modest: there is a tendency to over-egg the pudding, but the likeliest suspect is the script.
Having said this, it is an enjoyable fun evening, graced by such gems as Mariana Barbera and Mark Conway dancing the tango to what sounded like the music of Carlos Gardel. The music generally – including the ragtime-ish piano music in the interval – works extremely well without any obvious connection with Sherlock Holmes.
The plot follows Conan Doyle fairly accurately. Sir Charles Baskerville perishes (at the hands – or fangs – of a huge dog, possibly) even before the curtain, Dr. Mortimer reports the incident to Holmes and Watson, then Holmes despatches Watson to Baskerville Hall to investigate. Holmes later joins the investigation in disguise, producing further confusion as Mariana Barbera is playing five other parts anyway! The Stapletons and Barrymores are there – other characters disappear in the cull of actors to three – and there’s no shortage of yokels, played by all three cast members.
The whole evening reeks of meta-theatre, from the players introducing each other at the start to Mark Conway insisting on getting a round of applause before leaving the stage. The impossibility of seeing both Stapletons together causes on-stage bemusement – they are played by the same actor! Each actor has a personality distinct from, though reflecting, the part he or she is playing. Mariana Barbera explodes into a tantrum after the interval at an unfavourable comment made by the audience about her; Mark Conway is, initially, a bag of nerves; Annie Kirkman as Watson is eagerly dependent on Holmes, though the characters’ mutual expressions of love produce a somewhat uneasy effect.
What is good – and it is very good – is the spot-on synchronisation of move and gesture. Mark Conway has worked as Movement Director on various plays and it shows, not that the two women in the cast are in any way inferior. Casting Holmes and Watson as females offered opportunities, happily taken, to nudge the script a little away from the traditional.
Annie Kirkman is a fine upstanding Watson, frequently a little confused and rather too ready with the old service revolver, and Mark Conway is a disaster in waiting, lovelorn and confused. The casting of Mariana Barbera gives ERT the chance to create an exotically Latin lover for Sir Henry.
ERT moves from strength to strength in the technical side of things. Amy Watts’ set is terrific, with the panelled walls and fireplace of Baker Street and Baskerville Hall, and the integration of sound and lights is perfect.
Runs until 21st May 2022
The Reviews Hub Score
A fun evening
