The Hound Of The Baskervilles

Sharnbrook Mill Theatre

7^th March 2024

After a very strong programme in 2023, the Sharnbrook Mill Theatre on the outskirts of Bedfordshire certainly haven’t been taking things easy behind the scenes, clearly being hard at work this year with their upcoming productions.  First up is a comedy adaptation of ‘The Hound Of The Baskervilles’, the turn-of-the-20^th-century serialised story by Arthur Conan Doyle featuring his famous detective Sherlock Holmes.  It’s been done on film and television a multitude of times, but probably never with quite the anarchic sense of humour that this production delivers, playing evenings this week until Saturday.

Adapted from Doyle’s original story by Steven Canny and John Nicholson, the show follows the familiar tale of the mysterious death of Sir Charles Baskerville in a remote Dartmoor during the 1880s, which is brought to the attention of Sherlock Holmes and his assistant Dr Watson to try and solve.  The detectives try to unravel the secrets hidden within the Baskerville family tree and a potential curse on its bloodline, while also avoiding the snapping jaws and claws of the legendary demonic Hound.  So far, so faithful, until you throw in saunas, stuffed cows, and the Bee Gees. 

Doyle intricate plot arguably gets a little lost in Sharnbrook Mill Theatre’s production, where it takes a back seat to the comic parodying, but in truth this doesn’t matter, as the result is such joyously silly entertainment that it’s safer to just switch your brain off and let the madness rain down around you.  Directed by Keith Hargreaves, ‘The Hound Of The Baskervilles’ is quick-paced and inventively delivered, brimming with the daft kind of humour that you can’t help but smile at.  Fans of the Mischief Theatre creations (eg. ‘The Play That Goes Wrong’), and indeed Sharnbrook Mill’s own ‘The 39 Steps last year, will find plenty to enjoy here, with similar levels of off-the-wall humour, fourth-wall-breaking and tongue-in-cheek nods to its own silliness.  The show uses the intimate performance space well, suiting the “traditional charm” of the story, and the “larger” moments of the story are delivered cleverly even when minimally with sound effects and lighting cues, and their continued commitment to not be restricted by their size or capacity is always wonderful to see.

The original audition notice called for “energetic actors….who are prepared to make fools of themselves”, and this cast certainly deliver that in spades.  This may be billed as an amateur production but these are uniformly excellent performances, with each actor showing impeccable comic timing, versatility and stage presence. Kier Mulcahey (Sherlock Holmes and others), Miles Dolby (Henry Baskerville and others), and Joe Bygraves (Dr Watson and others) are a talented trio and they’re a joy to watch, with their performances being of a professional standard. Special mention needs to go to the scene at the top of the second act, where the actors “redo” the first act at a pace which leaves even the audience breathless, so how the actors manage it is anyone’s guess but it’s hugely impressive.

Sharnbrook Mill Theatre’s ‘The Hound Of The Baskervilles’ is bonkers entertainment and guaranteed to make you forget your problems for a couple of hours.  You probably won’t be able to recount the plot in great detail as you’re walking out, but you won’t forget its sense of daft madcap fun any time soon, or the brilliant performances of its leading man.  Another success for the Sharnbrook team, who will be back entertaining us again in May with their production of the ‘Bad Girls’ musical.  We wish them well and can’t wait to be back for that.

‘The Hound Of The Baskervilles runs at the Sharnbrook Mill Theatre until Saturday 9^th March 2024.

Performance runtime 2 hours including interval.