Review: Portland Stage Presents Gleeful Send-up of Sherlock Holmes

Portland Stage's gleeful, wickedly funny send-up of the Sherlock Holmes classic, Hound of the Baskervilles, as adapted by Steven Canny and John Nicholson, makes for a perfect antidote to the winter blues! Mounted with breathless energy by director Daniel Burson and brought to life by an agile, inventive, endearing trio of actors, this irreverent take on one of the best loved tales of the Holmes canon will keep you chuckling long after the curtain falls.

Canny and Nicholson adapted Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's story for their British comedy trio Peepolykus. In their script, which romps through events at a breakneck pace, the cast of characters is reduced to three male actors, who switch masks, often cross dressing - as well as costumes and accents - with dizzying speed. The action moves from a present day narrative frame in and out of the 19th century English Gothic milieu, and the actors break proscenium numerous times to engage the audience and comment on the play, thereby adding both distance and irony. A great deal of the humor involves an almost improvisatory physical comedy, brought vividly to life by the nimble-footed-and-witted cast.

Burson's direction gives the work a joie de vivre, and he succeeds admirably at allowing his actors both the freedom they need to create the zaniness and the strong shaping hand to maintain the comedic arc. There are giddy sequences such as the fast motion recap of act one at the beginning of act two that leave the audience gasping for breath amid uncontrollable laughter. At the same time, as with all good satire, he invests the play with an obvious fondness for his characters and subject.

The cast, headed by Dustin Tucker in a dazzling performance as Sherlock Holmes and six other male and female characters, is deliciously brilliant! Tucker brings his considerable Shakespearean experience - (think Touchstone, for example) - his facility at accents, and his lithe, kinetic presence to bear in creating each of his different roles. His Holmes has a dry drollness and self-satisfied air. Holmes' alter-ego, the murderer Stapleton dancing about with his crutch, is an astute mockery of horror movie villains. And among the other disguises he dons, his grande dame Cecile Stapleton - Lady Bracknell with an exaggerated Spanish accent and wild choreography, his surly Scottish butler, and his classic clown-like Dartmoor "yokel" are real treats.

Steven Strafford plays a panoply of Baskervilles, from the fey Sir Henry to his various relatives, amusingly parodying upper class foibles, while Ryan Farley makes Dr. Watson a loveable, dim side-kick, sweetly attracted to Holmes and dryly bungling most of his assignments.

The imposing scenery by Meg Anderson with a brick walled perimeter and few, but well-chosen props to define the various locales works beautifully in preserving then flow, and, indeed, the combination of choreography and improvisation with which the actors move the doors and furniture is, in itself, part of the clever effects. Stephen Jones' shadowy lighting design, with its frequent misty effects to suggest the foreboding moor and its dashes of jarring green or red for horror effects, adds to the humor and ambiance. Kathleen Brown supplies the period costumes, exaggerated wigs and disguises, and skillfully devises the quick changes so vital to the action. Chris Fitze's sound design, with its eerie mysterious noises and lively musical interludes to underscore scene changes and rapid action sequences, rounds out the perfect production values.

The Hound of the Baskervilles offers an exhilarating evening of theatre - comedy at its best, a hugely talented cast and an inventive and imaginative production all of which speak to the technical and creative virtuosity of the company!

Photos courtesy Portland Stage, Aaron Flacke, photographer

The Hound of the Baskervilles runs from January 29 - February 21, 2016 at Portland Stage, 25 Forest Ave., Portland, ME www.portlandstage.org 207-774-0465

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