The Hound of the Baskervilles Review: Boutique Sherlock Gets Laughs But Fails to Solve the Real Mystery
At the New Vic in Newcastle-under-Lyme, a four-person capsule telling of Arthur Conan Doyle's classic thriller, The Hound of the Baskervilles, brings vigour and charm but ultimately leaves audiences puzzled about its point. This boutique Sherlock adaptation, revived by director Joyce Branagh, struggles to transcend its gimmicky premise, offering laughs at the expense of theatrical depth.
A Cast Stretched Thin Across Moorland and Mystery
The production features actors Alyce Liburd, Jerone Marsh-Reid, Alex Phelps, and Tom Richardson, who valiantly attempt to portray the famous detective Sherlock Holmes, his sidekick John Watson, various Baskerville family members, servants, neighbours, yokels, and settings from 221B Baker Street to windswept Dartmoor moorland. The impossibility of this task becomes the central joke, leading to shaky props, hasty costume changes, and an over-stretched stage manager. While the cast performs with energy, the constant mugging and gurning detract from the story's inherent mystery and jeopardy.
Laughing at the medium is an old theatrical idea, but this adaptation lacks the satirical bite of predecessors like Victoria Wood's Acorn Antiques or the ambitious humor of the National Theatre of Brent's two-man epics. Written by Steven Canny and John Nicholson and first staged by Peepolykus in 2007, the show feels vacuous, with no clear purpose beyond milking the material for comedy. Despite being faithful to Conan Doyle's outline, including the isolated Dartmoor setting with a ravenous beast and escaped convict, the production fails to evoke any sense of revelation or suspense.
Theatre for Theatre's Sake: A Wearisome Night Out
As a 10-minute sketch, this approach might be tolerable, but stretched over two-and-a-half hours, the lack of necessity becomes wearisome. The audience, however, laps it up as if witnessing fresh invention, leaving one to wonder why there is such a market for this style. The real mystery here is not the hound on the moor but the show's own raison d'être. With performances ending on 14 March, this adaptation serves as a reminder that charm alone cannot compensate for a missing narrative drive.
In summary, while The Hound of the Baskervilles delivers laughs through its energetic cast, it ultimately fails to engage with the deeper elements of Conan Doyle's tale, making it a lightweight addition to the Sherlock Holmes canon.
