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Stars explained: * A production of no real merit
with failings in all areas. ** A production showing evidence of not
enough time or effort, or even talent, and which never breathes any real
life into the piece – or a show lumbered with a terrible script. *** A
good enjoyable show which might have some small flaws but has largely
achieved what it set out to do.**** An excellent show which shows a
great deal of work and stage craft with no noticeable or major
flaws.***** A four star show which has found that extra bit of magic
which lifts theatre to another plane. |
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Delightfully dogged detection Hound of the Baskervilles Hall Green Little Theatre **** TAKE the
world's most famous detective, take a play about his best known case,
select a time after the detective has starred in a hit BBC TV series and
is currently starring on US TV and Sky and you can't go wrong.
Elementary, really. Or at least Hall Green didn't go wrong with this very slick and well-paced studio production placing a feather firmly in the cap of Sami Mohraby on his directoral debut. Tim Kelly's adaptation has been set in modern
dress which after the TV series is probably what audiences expect rather
than deerstalkers and smoking jackets and James Weetman gives us a
rather wide eyed and intense Sherlock Holmes, sort of upper middle-class
manic, calculating and analysing every word, action and clue – all good
stuff. Tony O'Hagan gives us a Dr Watson, Holmes'
loyal sidekick, who is a bit of an old woman, fussing around all the
time and getting in the way as much as helping as the worried Lady
Agatha, played in a suitably reserved manner by Louise Price, tries to
protect young Sir Henry, played in dashing style by Ara Sotoudeh, from
the beast that roams the moor
Then come (lights go off, flash of lightning,
roll of thunder, lights back on) the suspects. We have the faithful old
retainers Barrymore and his wife, nicely played by the reliable Jon
Richardson and, adding a touch of West Country burr, Linda Neale, then
there are brother and sister pair Jack and Kathy Stapleton. Jack, played by Oliver Harvey-Vallender, is all
angst and testosterone as he warns Sir Henry off his sister, played
demurely and sweetly by Rachael Pickard. It all seems a little over the
top and Jack returns to apologise, but does he really and is all as it
seems . . . (snatch of dramatic music) And we are not finished yet. We have a mysterious
escaped convict wandering the moor, a servant, Perkins, played by Josie
Booth, who seems innocent enough, but is she? Then there is the shifty Laura Lyons, played with
a sort of upper class shiftiness, by Stephanie Osbourne. We know she
wrote letters that may or may not have led to the death of Sir Charles,
Sir Henry's uncle who had his throat ripped out by . . . (cue scary
music) the beast! His death left Sir Henry as heir to the vast
fortunes of the Baskervilles as the only surviving relative Sir Charles
had no childen, his brother John, Henry's father had gone to live in
America and died there, and the black sheep of the family, the wastrel
gambler Sir Roger, the third brother, had fled to South America to
escape his creditors where it appeared he had died . . . or had he. And then there was the beast, the hound of the
Baskervilles, steeped in legend and presumably economy size packs of
Pedigree Chum, with red glowing eyes, breathing fire as it stalked
victims on the lonely moor, a place where it was not safe to venture out
at night. It might be modern dress but this is a play filled with old
fashioned fears and terrors. We all know it is a bit tongue in cheek and the
plot has more holes than a lorry load of Polos and we have no chance of
solving it as Holmes keeps all the clues to himself until the (cue music
again) dramatic end, but it is great fun and has a nice rhythm to it,
keeping up a lively pace. It certainly seems to have struck a chord with
audiences – perhaps they are all dog lovers – playing to packed houses
so far. A good cast, decent set and fast paced story and full houses –
perhaps t is elementary after all. To 17-11-12 Roger Clarke |
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