“The Hound of the Baskervilles”

Posted by Gail M. Burns - September 2009

“A long, low moan, indescribably sad, swept over the moor. It filled the whole air, and yet it was impossible to say whence it came. From a dull murmur it swelled into a deep roar, and then sank back into a melancholy, throbbing murmur once again. Stapleton looked at [Watson] with a curious expression in his face.

‘Queer place, the moor!’ said he.”

- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

I don’t know which was more fun – seeing Steve Canny and John Nicholson’s three-man stage adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Hound of the Baskervilles in its American premiere at Shakespeare & Company, or re-reading the original novella in preparation. The latter is the very definition of a ripping good yarn, while the former is pure silly fun from beginning to end. I recommend you double your fun and do both as well.

The Hound of the Baskervilles was the fifth of Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories, and it was originally published serially in the Strand Magazine from August 1901 to April 1902. It has been called one of the best murder mystery/detective stories ever written, and therefore I won’t give away any of the plot – even though it is the plot which this adaptation serves least well and with which most audience members are the least familiar.

Peepolykus (pronounced people-like-us) the company who created this adaptation, are the British equivalent of our Reduced Shakespeare Company, creators of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abrigded), The Bible (abridged), The Complete History of America (abridged),, etc. Both companies’ stage corps consists of three talented comic actors and therefore their works are conceived for three men to play all the roles.

Shakespeare & Company had great success with The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged). Their production, directed by Tony Simotes, now the company’s Artistic Director, and featuring actor/director Jonathan Croy, opened in 2000 and was reprised in 2001 and 2003. So when Founding Artistic Director Tina Packer saw The Hound of the Baskervilles during its smash London run a few years back, she naturally thought of teaming Simotes and Croy again and bringing the show to Lenox.

Here Croy plays the straight man, Dr. John Watson, to the unbridled foolishness of Josh Aaron McCabe as Holmes and many, many other characters, including the leading lady, and Ryan Winkles as Sir Henry Baskerville and an assortment of others. In about 90 minutes they tear through about 75% of Conan Doyle’s yarn and tell every old joke known to man in the process.

I have included a couple of the company’s production photos in this review, but there are so many good one, I encourage you to click HERE and look at them all. It will give you a good idea of how remarkably versatile McCabe is in his various characterizations, as well as what a load of loopy fun the whole thing is.

These three actors have already formed a seamless ensemble, deftly able to cover the inevitable faux pas (here pronounced “fox pass”) that occur when you are playing complex material at such break-neck speed. Half the fun for the audience is watching them cover when the wrong hat appears or a gun presents its butt-end for firing.

Simotes and company have been quoted repeatedly in preview articles for this production saying that this show will improve with age, and they are right. They have had a mercilessly short rehearsal period and the actors will settle in to a rhythm as they gain mastery of the material and how it plays before an audience. I and other members of the press are at a distinct disadvantage seeing The Hound… so early in its run. Luckily, the show is up through November 8, and I would imagine the peak foliage season and the optimum time to see this farce will coincide.

The Peepolykus production owed a lot to the British Panto or Pantomime tradition, in which you take a very familiar tale – like Cinderella – then have all the men play the women, all the women play the men, and generally run roughshod all over the plot, inserting the bathroom humor the British love so well whenever possible. (If you have never seen a Panto go see The Panto-Loons’ Puss in Boots at the Ghent Playhouse in November/December.)

This presents two problems here. First, Simotes has chosen to remove a lot of the Panto antics on the theory that they would not play well before an American audience. Having not seen the missing material I am not able to second-guess Simotes’ judgment, but I know that the Pantos at Ghent regularly sell out. And secondly, The Hound of the Baskervilles does not really fall into the category of a very familiar tale. While most people have a vague idea of a very large slobbery dog bounding about in the night killing people, I bet you’d have a hard time finding someone able to really tell you the plot. And since this is a murder mystery, with clues and red herrings and all, you can’t just throw the plot out the window the way you can with a fairy tale.

If you are a Holmesian purist, you will not like this production because of the liberties it takes with Conan Doyle’s careful plotting, even though it is about as faithful as it could be within the constraints of its genre and the three-man cast. There are just so many lighting fast costume changes you can squeeze in to 90 minutes, and just so many different characters two actors can play (Croy does play Watson pretty much throughout.)

But if you go back to the original, you will also be struck with how much fun it is. It’s even funny in places, and the Holmes/Watson relationship is absolutely charming. Remember that, on page and stage, Watson narrates all the Holmes stories. We always see things through his eyes. Hollywood has given us Watsons who are rather doddery and blundering, but in truth he is a medical doctor, an athletic man, a good shot, and not at all slow-witted – it is just that he constantly presents himself in comparison to Holmes, who he idolizes and who is indeed a rare and peculiar bird. Simotes and Croy give us a Watson who is all this and more, and McCabe presents a constantly preening Holmes who basks in Watson’s reflection of his glory.

“Really, Watson, you excel yourself,” said Holmes, pushing back his chair and lighting a cigarette. “I am bound to say that in all the accounts which you have been so good as to give of my own small achievements you have habitually underrated your own abilities. It may be that you are not yourself luminous, but you are a conductor of light. Some people without possessing genius have a remarkable power of stimulating it. I confess, my dear fellow, that I am very much in your debt.”
– Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Canny and Nicholson make all the usual fun of Holmes and Watson, often using Conan Doyle’s own words, like the passage quoted above, to do so. Part of the fun of having read the book so soon before seeing the show was being able to hear the passages lifted directly from the original played so deftly to a different end.

“It is a wonderful place, the moor,” said [Stapleton], looking round over the undulating downs, long green rollers, with crests of jagged granite foaming up into fantastic surges. “You never tire of the moor. You cannot think the wonderful secrets which it contains. It is so vast, and so barren, and so mysterious.”
– Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Major quibble: Conan Doyle was Scottish, but The Hound… is set on Dartmoor in Devonshire in southwestern England. There is moorland in Scotland, but it is called the heath. I suppose an American audience would be hard pressed to recognize a Devon accent or identify the native costume, but to keep saying you are on Dartmoor and then have characters dressed in kilts using outrageous Scottish burrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrssss is a bit much.

That said, Jim Youngerman has designed a very simple arrangement on the back wall that manages to evoke both the moor and the Great Grimpen Mire. His rolling set pieces move when they should and stay still when they should, transporting both plot and actors through the rapidly changing scenes. Govane Lohbauer, that consummate costume artiste, has designed wonderful and very funny quick-change costumes for the multitude of characters.

Steve Ball’s lighting and Michael Pfeiffer’s sound design blend seamlessly into the hectic action on stage to enhance the humor.

Minor Design Quibble: No Hound. We hear the beast, but we never see him, not even in silhouette. As my close acquaintances know, my two miniature dachshunds have been lobbying for the title role, but when no call came from the Shakespeare & Company casting department, they begged me to discover which breed had been selected. Imagine the affront they suffered upon learning that the title character failed to make an appearance! I know that the play is not called The Small, Yappy Dog of the Baskervilles but since this is a farce, I can think of nothing funnier, after all the dramatic howling and growling, than having a tiny wiener dog make an entrance. Abby and Cody are still available, should Simotes care to reconsider his concept.

Except for the most fanatical and inflexible of Holmesian purists, I cannot imagine who wouldn’t have a wonderful time at this show. You can take the kids and grandma and then all sit down and read the novella after you get home…this one’s a REAL winner!

“Now is the dramatic moment of fate, Watson, when you hear a step upon the stair which is walking into your life, and you know not whether for good or ill. What does Dr. James Mortimer, the man of science, ask of Sherlock Holmes, the specialist in crime? Come in!”
- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

The Hound of the Baskervilles plays in the Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre on the Shakespeare & Company campus on Kemble Street in Lenox, MA, from September 18 through November 8. The Bernstein is air-conditioned and wheelchair accessible. Performances in the evenings run at 7:30 p.m. and in the afternoons at 2:00 p.m. Tickets range from $12 to $48. For a complete listing of productions and schedules, to inquire about the 40% Berkshire Resident Discount, Youth Rush tickets, or other discounts, or to receive a brochure, please call the Box Office at (413) 637-3353 or visit www.shakespeare.org. For custom-designed group visits including options for artist talkbacks, tours and catered events, contact the Group Sales office at (413) 637-1199 ext. 132.

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