Joyce Branagh (director) and Alex Phelps (actor) bring The Hound of the Baskervilles to the New Vic in Newcastle-under-Lyme next month. It is adapted for the stage by Steven Canny and John Nicholson.
“Legendary detective Sherlock Holmes and his trusty partner, Dr Watson, are called to the wilds of Devon – Sir Charles Baskerville has been found dead, the footprints of a giant hound discovered next to his body. All signs indicate he’s the victim of a mysterious family curse.
Will Holmes crack the case? Can Watson keep up? And will they catch the demonic dog?
The game is afoot (but it’s limping slightly)!”
Where: New Vic
When: 14 Feb – 14 Mar
Ticket link: https://www.newvictheatre.org.uk/productions/the-hound-of-the-baskervilles/
Joyce and Alex tell us more about this “fiendishly funny whodunit”.
It’s great to see the Detective and the Doctor back on stage in their greatest case. What makes this Hound stand out from other adaptations?
Joyce: It’s daftness. It is SUCH a uniquely silly take on the story. It absolutely keeps the narrative of Conan-Doyle’s original tale, but also sends everything up – the melodrama, the genius of Holmes and the idea of the ‘bumbling sidekick’ Watson.
It’s such a great script – lots of jokes to the inch, and yet we’re still carried away with the ‘whodunnit’ aspect of the story. And it is SPEEDY! We get the whole novel in a couple of hours – so it goes at quite a lick. The actors and the backstage crew are going to be fit as fiddles doing this!
Alex: Any iteration of the famous detective and his loyal friend is cause for excitement. Especially this one. The beauty of what Steven Canny and John Nicholson have created lies in the inventiveness of the adaptation.
Rather than trying to compete with on screen realism we lean fully into what’s possible with the imagination. Ours and the audiences. There are four of us playing multiple characters so the audience is invited to engage their imagination, which makes the experience feel immediate, playful and hopefully very funny.
It honours Conan Doyle’s original mystery but tells it in a bold, modern, very theatrical and very silly way. It’s a joy!
Alex, can you say something about the company and your role in the show?
Alex: Gosh! It’s a real pinch yourself moment, to be working with such talented, generous and playful people. We’re all collaborators so it’s been a bit of ‘best idea wins’ when inventing scenes to play within.
I’m playing Actor 1 which means I take on a number of different characters including Sherlock Holmes himself, what an honour! It’s a wonderfully demanding role, fast paced, physical and constantly shifting.
One moment your grounded in the logic and precision of Holmes, the next you’re shifting into someone else with a completely different energy, physicality and voice! A wonderful challenge, and great fun!
How do you find something new when dealing with the legend that is Sherlock Holmes?
Joyce: In a way, it’s about taking everything that is ‘classic’ about this wonderful Sherlock Holmes thriller, and giving it a silly twist – and every department has taken up the baton.
I’ve got 4 amazing actors who can play the drama of the Holmes story, but who are also amazing comedy performers, adept at silly voices and falling over.
Set, Costume and Lighting all suggest the Victorian grandeur of Baskerville Hall, but who’ve also added some humorous secrets in its treacherous ‘Grimpen Mire’; and the sound design creates moody sweeping spooky vistas, which might be also be punctuated with a squeaky duck.
The publicity states this is very much a comic retelling. What does comedy in the theatre mean to you?
Joyce: I love comedy. I love the nerdiness of knowing that a simple look to the audience at a key moment might be the difference between a joke landing or not – and it’s great to work with a team who also love exploring the techniques that make a scene funny.
There’s a lot of choreography in comedy, and it can be painstaking to put together – but when it finally works you get the prize of making a huge crowd roar with laughter.
I think in today’s dark times, we need comedy as a release – and live theatre is the best experience. We can leave our cares at the door, to step into a darkened room, with a load of strangers and have a bloomin’ good giggle – which is especially lovely at the New Vic, as with in-the-round theatre, you can also enjoy seeing the people across from you enjoying the scene too.
And I think that shared experience of laughing with others, really can be rather wonderful, and in a small way, can make the world feel like a more hopeful place.
Alex: It means everything. I grew up watching and have been inspired by some of the greatest comedy actors of all time. Rowan Atkinson, Laurel and Hardy, Buster Keaton, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Tina Fey, Lee Evans.
They all seem to bleed into a performance or a particular moment. I believe a lot of comedy within theatre comes from truth, it treads the razors edge of tragedy. It’s often about timing, rhythm and the relationship with the audience, that shared moment where everyone is in on the game together.
Especially in live performance, comedy feels immediate, you can sense when an audience leans in, laughs and recognises something human in what they’ve seen.
I think good theatrical comedy doesn’t undermine the story, it actually helps the audience relax, engage and enjoy the ride even more.
If you were going to sell this Hound in three words, what would they be?
Joyce: Classic. Silly. Fast!
Alex: HOUND IN *the* ROUND!