The Hound of the Baskervilles

Hounds of Love

The Hound of the Baskervilles

by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, adapted by John Nicholson and Steve Canny 

Putney Theatre Company at the Putney Arts Theatre until 30^th September

Review by Andrew Lawston

Dartmoor, lanterns flashing in the night, a man apparently walking on tiptoes to his death, “an enormous hound”, escaped convicts, the Grimpen Mire.  The plot of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s 1902 Sherlock Holmes novel, The Hound of the Baskervilles, has become archetypal, and endless adaptations on stage and screen have taken various liberties with the original text.

It’s something of a surprise then that Putney Theatre Company’s new production of Steve Canny and John Nicholson’s parody of the tale is, plotwise at least, a relatively faithful adaptation.

Directors Perry and Lois Savill have gone to great lengths to ensure the evening is an immersive experience for the audience.  There are newspaper pages in the foyer, with lurid headlines about an escaped murderer at large on the moors.  There are shades of The Play That Goes Wrong as the team usher the audience into the auditorium “just in case”.  When we take our seats, even the music is evocative, including Hound Dog and, rather brilliantly, Kate Bush’s Hounds of Love.  When shifting scenery, the Stage Management team even wear t-shirts with the words “STAGE HOUND” printed on the back.

The cast introduce themselves with some relaxed audience interaction that breaks the ice nicely.  Andrew Hall as Actor 1 primarily plays Sherlock Holmes, interpreting the Great Detective as somewhat vain and offhand.  Tim Iredale as Actor 2 mostly plays Dr Watson, and when he isn’t delivering a joke, he plays the world’s best known sidekick as being remarkably capable and intelligent, if a little trigger-happy with his service revolver.  Actor 3 is played by Jacob Smith, completing the trio and primarily playing Sir Henry Baskerville, with great gusto and cheeriness.

All three actors have a gift for physical comedy that enhances the jokes in the script.  Whether they are miming a short and very awkward scene in a sauna, or bouncing along in a cab, the audience is constantly reduced to fits of laughter.  In addition to comic timing, they also frequently have to coordinate with Sound Operator Alexa Adam, whether it’s for gunshots, striking matches, or reacting to the Hound.

The set, designed by Perry Savill and Robert Hellstrand, is a marvellous clash of styles.  While the miniature Baskerville Hall that dominates the back of the stage is painstaking in its detail, the Grimpen Mire comes straight from the pantomime school of scenery.  Locations including train carriages, saunas, and hansom cabs are represented largely by benches, while a painted fireplace prop in Baskerville Hall also doubles as a bed for characters.  This makes for some energetic and entertaining set changes, but the set’s crowning achievement must be the flat in 221b Baker Street, which at first glance looks thoroughly naturalistic.  The world’s most famous sitting room is recreated, however, to feature a portrait of Holmes himself, and even the wallpaper makes use of the distinctive deerstalker silhouette.

The mobile scenery and cast of just three actors ensures a frenetic pace, which enables the show to incorporate most of the source novel’s major plot beats, while also having a lot of fun with them.  Not to mention the addition of a dash of romance between the Great Detective and Dr Watson, and some play-within-a-play fun as Holmes (or is it Actor 1?) harangues the audience for posting negative tweets during the interval.

In short, The Hound of the Baskervilles uses the highest production values in order to have some very silly fun.  It’s a constantly hilarious parody of a much-loved novel that treats its source with surprising respect, and features three engaging and charismatic performances from three very hard-working actors.

Andrew Lawston, September, 2023

Photography courtesy of PTC