‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’ apapted for the stage by Clive Francis
14 November 2008
Last Friday we were at the Royal Theatre, Northampton, to see ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’ with Peter Egan as Holmes and Philip Franks as Watson. It was a very enjoyable evening but the star of the show was undoubtedly the set. The stage was dominated by two open pages of an enormous book, onto which a variety of pictures, animation and text was projected. As the pages appeared to turn over, using the sort of animation you see in an e-book, we dived further into the story – looking out of the window of 221B Baker Street, racing across Dartmoor or recoiling from the rapidly advancing silhouette of the hound. While most of the acting happened in front of the pages, back-lighting was used occasionally to reveal actors behind (or within) the book. It was a very inventive and effective mix of technology and live action. Unfortunately, I don’t think the production had really settled on whether or not to play it for laughs. It reminded me at times of the wonderful Patrick Barlow stage adaptation of ‘The Thirty Nine Steps’ – particularly with just three actors playing all the subsidiary parts. But, whereas ‘The Thirty Nine Steps’ was entirely tongue in cheek (and very funny), ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’ seemed to veer between melodrama and spoof. Franks’ Watson was a little too much in the Nigel Bruce, bumbling buffoon, line for me. And I was particularly puzzled to see Egan holding his violin and bow in the wrong hands – was he doing this for a bet or were we actually watching a mirror image? Good fun and visually stunning but we came out humming the set.
posted by Robin Simpson @ 12:56 pm
1 Comments:
I saw The Hound a day or two before you, and I think the word you are looking for is "melodrama"!
It's how the stories were written, after all.
For me, it was a splendid production which has if anything improved since I first saw it in Nottingham.The blend of acting and projection works beautifully, once you get used to it.Didn't you know Sherlock Holmes was left-handed? That accounts for the violin :-)
All the cast gave good interpretations..Watson is supposed to bumble : Peter Egan gave, as usual, a brilliant performance.
BTW, I think there are now rather less piles of books on the stage..tho I may be wrong!
Yours, Liz Gage, Nottingham
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