REVIEW: Hound Of The Baskervilles - The Lowry Theatre, Salford.

With Halloween almost showing its terrifying face, this was our opportunity to indulge in this classic, mysterious, and horrifying Sherlock Holmes tale.

We shadow Sherlock Holmes and his close friend/sidekick, Doctor Jane Watson on their journey from the streets of London to the Devonshire Moors as they attempt to solve the mystery of… The Hound of the Baskervilles. Two showman-like and brave actors, from What A Farce Theatre, played every role in this fast paced farce.

If you cross The Play That Goes Wrong with The Woman in Black, you could interpret that as the basic theatrical underline for the whole show. They were two actors struggling to tell a complex story with lots of characters, this is where the humour came from. Everything became playful: intending to lovingly mock Sherlock Holmes and his adventurous world.

There was a small cut out style set on the large Quays Theatre stage, which looked rather odd. I’m guessing it must have been in a smaller venue prior to this particular run. The 221B Baker Street set design had an eccentric Victorian visual aesthetic. It looked like something out of a cartoon pop-up book.

One significant question is: have What A Farce considered who their target audience is? Much of the audience demographic were teenagers or young people, presumably going to see it in hope it might help with their English Literature studies, or maybe they are watching it for an educative experience. The issue was, there were a lot of sexual innuendos and British smut comedy throughout. This was clearly aimed at an older audience. On reflection, it felt forced in to the production, it was like the sexual jokes were there to acquire cheap laughs.

I’m all for a clowning show and a play that is intentionally below-par. However, I argue there is such a thing as a poor version of an intentionally below-par play. Sadly, this was the case here. The reason why was because the underlying concept for the whole show appeared more central than the Sherlock Holmes story itself. There was no even balance. This fast paced production didn’t pause for breath. The complex story was narrated too quickly and there was more talking than visual elements, which could have assisted in communicating the narrative. Unfortunately, the world of Sherlock Holmes got lost in the story’s moor fog.  

Saying that, occasionally this production got big laughs, but that wasn’t enough to make it an overall success. For example: the desperate plea for the audience to come back after the interval was placed at just the right time to uproarious effect. The high energy and melodramatic performance from the actors works in the context. It was funny watching them struggle to play all the characters and tell the story in the circumstance surrounding the performance.

But, other audience members said, leaving the theatre, they just couldn’t follow the original story. I looked at the poster and thought we would be willingly suspending our disbelief to the world of Sherlock Holmes and his story, instead it didn’t turn out that way. I just hope the audience around me didn’t do the same as I did.

Reviewer – Sam Lowe

On – 28/10/18