The Hound of the Baskervilles Review – Sherlock’s boutique laughs but fails to solve the real mystery | stage

TTo get a sense of how exhausting this adaptation of Sherlock Holmes is, you only have to consider its predecessors. The joke is that there are only four actors representing the famous detective, his friend John Watson, several members of the Baskerville family, plus servants, neighbors and yoke, not to mention number 221B Baker Street, which is a windswept moor. The impossibility of achieving such a task comes at the expense of the theater itself: shaky props, hasty costume changes, and an exhausted stage manager.

Laughing at the mean is an old idea. But when Victoria Wood did it at Acorn Antiques, for example, she had a reason. Yes, daytime soap operas were an easy target for ridicule, but they were a target nonetheless. And when Brent’s National Theater attempted to stage two-act epics such as Wagner’s Circular or Messiah, the mad ambition was laughable in itself.

The standard isn’t particularly high, but by comparison, this reworking of Conan Doyle, first introduced by Bibolicus in 2007, falls flat. Written by Stephen Kani and John Nicholson, and now revived by director Joyce Branagh, it’s an aimless spectacle.

As it happens, it sticks to the original scheme. Strip away the spoilers, muggings and accents, and you get a fair account of the tale, set in isolated Dartmoor where a ravenous beast and an escaped convict are on the loose. Holmes and Watson piece together the evidence just as Conan Doyle intended.

However, you don’t feel like actors Alice Liburd, Geron Marsh-Read, Alex Phelps, and Tom Richardson have any reason to tell this story, let alone any impression of its mystery, dangers, and revelations. Their only goal is to milk the material for laughs.

They do it with power and charm, but this is theater for theatre’s sake. As a 10-minute drawing, it would be acceptable; Like spending two and a half hours outside, the lack of necessity is exhausting.

That there is a market for these things is beyond doubt. The audience embraces it as if they were watching the material being reinvented. It would take a Sherlock-grade detective to find out why.