Review by Steve Bennett

This adaptation of Hound Of The Baskervilles is the work of Peepolykus, a group that has been creating comedy theatre for more than a dozen years, from their roots in firmly planted in the fringe. And in this production, their roots are most definitely showing.

A cast of just three valiantly battle to play more than 20 parts between them, making a virtue out of what would have been a necessity on a tight budget. But cheapness seems an affectation on the West End stage, and these shenanigans feel as if they belong in a much smaller space, and with a much tighter running time.

They stick surprisingly closely to the plot of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s original story, but ham up its telling - as is immediately apparent from the casting. The archetypal English detective is played by Javier Marzan, a Spaniard who performs with full-on Allo Allo accent. That’s the big gag, but it proves remarkably easy to accept him as Holmes as he’s just a bit too good.

It’s typical of the tightrope Peepolykus walk between being too silly and too dramatic, but they don’t fully satisfy either camp. Where you might expect a full-on Knockabout romp, the energy is reined in by the Victorian formality of the setting.

The good-natured trio perform expertly, and there are a few greatly entertaining scenes; most of which happen when they are let off the leash a little. Holmes’s cavalier treatment of a corpse, or John Nicholson’s Watson and Jason Thorpe’s Sir Henry Baskerville sinking into the quicksand of the moors spring to mind.

There’s more droll fun to be had with all the quick changes of scene and costume - especially Marzan’s attempts to switch between playing the sinister butler Stapleton and his sister in a beat. But all the gags feel overfamiliar from just a few too many similar comedies where the jokes is that the cast is stupidly overworked.

Chuckles come from the knowing asides, when the illusions the low-rent special effects, scenery and mimes are supposed to be creating are broken by reality. But the joke that this is all cheap nonsense can be overdone – if the audience is constantly being reminded not to suspend disbelief, then where is the motive to involve themselves in the show?

A couple of moments when the versatile cast break the spell completely, coming out of character to read a health and safety announcement or otherwise address the auditorium seem especially unnecessary. At one point just before the interval they hint that they might be about to break the fourth wall completely and take the show in a whole new direction – but they don’t. Then, just after the break, Marzan gets so indignant over a supposed slight that he leads his fellow performers through a breakneck repeat of the first half. It’s quite a nice scene, but again similar things have been done before, and better.

The mannered Sherlock Holmes have always been rife for the spoofing, of course, and Baskervilles is one of the most-parodied, most notably by Peter Cook and Dudley Moore in their 1978 film. This new Peepolykus version doesn’t really add much to the canon – it’s gently amusing with some nice touches, but thin on belly laughs and without being quite as inventive or slapstick as those fringe spoofs with genuinely low budgets have to be.

Reviewed by: Steve Bennett
May 7, 2007

• The Hound Of The Baskervilles is at the Duchess Theatre, until July 14. Click here for tickets.

Review date: 7 May 2007
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett