Shows with just a few characters
playing a variety of roles need to be concerned about timing, pacing, and
inventiveness. The gold standard
is the original 1984 production of The Mystery of Irma Vep with creator Charles
Ludlam and Everett Quinton. More recently,
there has been the Hitchcock send-up, The 39 Steps, and currently, Off-Broadway,
the hilarious, Murder for Two.
Locally, Playhouse on Park has undertaken the three-person retelling of
the Sherlock Holmes mystery, The Hounds of the Baskervilles. While there are some humorous and
creative moments the production suffers from a sluggish tempo and slapdash
characterizations.
The Arthur Conan Doyle story, one
of the best known in the Holmes canon, concerns a spectral hound that has,
supposedly, roamed the Scottish moors for generations, targeting the
Baskerville clan. When the last
surviving family member, Sir Henry, arrives from Canada to claim his family’s
property Holmes and Watson are on the case to protect the new squire and solve
the perplexing puzzle.
The three actors in the show are very good in
their primary roles. Rich Hollman
is slightly bland, but not as pompous or grating as other portrayers of the
world’s greatest detective or, as stated in the show, the second best
sleuth. Sean Harris is more a bumbling, confused Nigel Bruce type in
his depiction of Dr. Watson.
Brennan Caldwell has a deft comic touch as Henry Baskerville. All the actors are game for the
physicality called upon for the show.
However, the other characters they inhabit show little imagination. Witness Jeff Blumenkrantz in Off-Broadway’s
Murder for Two who morphs into over a half dozen characters by simply altering
his voice or facial expressions.
That sort of dexterity would have been more captivating then throwing scraggly on
a black beard or white dress, as done in this production.
Scenes in The Hound of the
Baskervilles seemed to languish much too often. The overall tone needed more of a madcap flavor. Director Tom Ridgely should have had
the actors gone more over-the-top as displayed in the first part of Act II. The show was not fast-paced enough to
keep it from becoming wearisome instead of what could have been an outrageous,
off-the-wall affair.
Thought should also have been given
to trim the two hour running time (including intermission). The show would have been more robust
and entertaining at a compact 90 minutes of straight lunacy.
The Hound of the Baskervilles,
playing through December 22nd.
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