Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic detective story but wrapped in a huge comedy blanket

All the iconic characters are there, Sherlock Holmes, Doctor Watson, Sir Henry Baskerville plus others, it’s the same story but with added warmth and laughter and a real connection with the audience.

It’s hard to believe such a dark story can but turned into so much fun and silliness.

It’s a small cast of only three and they all play multiple characters. Helena Antoniou’s main character was Dr Watson with great comedy timing she gave us lots of laughs and at times reminded me of Jennifer Saunders. Katy Daghorn’s main character was Sir Henry Baskerville there was a running joke throughout the show that she couldn’t do a Canadian accent, she was the smallest in stature but had a huge presence on the stage.

Dave Hearn’s main character was Sherlock Holmes and he played many other smaller parts, this man’s physical comedy is like no other I recognised him immediately from Theatre by the Lakes production of The 39 steps, I’m sure he could make me laugh if he read out a car manual.

The boundless energy of all the cast never dipped it lasted throughout the show.

The scenes and props were quite simplistic but nothing more was needed the stage was busy enough. My favourite part of the first act was the scene in the sauna, seeing Holmes and Watson in the sauna fully suited with lots of towels falling off, on purpose or accidentally, I’m not sure but it was very funny.

At the start of the second half Dave came out to address the audience over what he thought was a very serious matter, apparently during the interval an audience member had made an unflattering comment about his performance on social media, he was not happy and declared that because of this they would do the whole of the first half again, this was a hysterically funny, frenzied recap of what we had seen, the quick costume and prop changes were astounding and then the story continued.

None of it was too scary, some creepiness on the moors was created with fog and lighting effects, we never got to see the beast but by clever sound, lighting and a flash of red we knew it was there. Even finding a dead body on the moors and Dr Watson’s attempts to revive it were even funny.

I had such a good time I didn’t want it to end, but the finale song “Who Let the Dogs Out” was the perfect ending to this show.

The Hound of the Baskervilles is showing at Theatre by the Lake  https://www.theatrebythelake.com/event/the-hound-of-the-baskervilles/
9 Aug to 14 Sep shows start at 7.30 and there are matinees on selected dates, suitable for ages 8 and upwards, ticket prices start at £12
Theatre by the Lake now operates a dynamic pricing structure so the earlier you book the better the price.

Another great show from Theatre by the Lake packed full of fun and laughter.

Photo Credit Hugo Glendinning