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Murder on the moors. A horrifying creature on the loose. A gloomy mansion full of secrets. They’re all part of Baskerville, an adaptation of Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic Sherlock Holmes mystery The Hound of the Baskervilles. While it may sound like the kind of show theaters schedule for Halloween, the light-hearted spirit of Ken Ludwig’s script and freeFall’s playful production make it just the thing for spring.
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Five Actors, 42 Roles, and a Sparse Set
One reason it’s so much fun: The quicksilver five-member cast. Three of them — Kelly Pekar, James Putnam, and Robert Teasdale — play more than 40 characters, while freeFall Artistic Director Eric Davis and Matthew McGee take on the iconic roles of Holmes and his sidekick Dr. Watson.
Directed with a sure hand by Davis, Baskerville conjures up moor, mansion and multiple other locales (including a horse-drawn carriage and a train car) using just the four chairs, two benches and two doorways of Hansen Scenic’s spare but elegant set. Jo Averill-Snell’s atmospheric lighting sets the moods, the sound design by Davis is by turns foreboding and funny, and Deborah Lastinger’s costumes are rich in period detail (including the requisite deerstalker cap).
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The story traces the fate of the noble Baskervilles, whose former scions are said to have been killed by a demonic hound roaming the moors. When the latest heir is found dead, a friend of the family fears that the next in line, Sir Henry Baskerville, will be next to die, and asks Sherlock Holmes to investigate. Watson accompanies Henry to Baskerville Hall, where the good doctor finds mysteries aplenty to share with Holmes.
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Davis’s Holmes is a worthy successor to Rathbone, Cumberbatch and other Sherlocks we have known. He’s supremely self-confident and a touch mischievous, but he’s also prone to explosive fits of self-critical rage. McGee’s Watson is the perfect foil; his brow furrows when he can’t keep up with Holmes’s machinations, but his loyalty is never in question. Watson also acts as our narrator, an ideal task for consummate storyteller McGee.
From Canada to… Texas?
Sir Henry is a Canadian in Conan Doyle’s original, but Ludwig makes him a Texan — played here with down-home swagger by Teasdale, who also plays Holmes’s rough-hewn Scotland Yard frenemy, Inspector Lestrade. Henry’s romantic interest is sparked by Baskerville neighbor Beryl Stapleton, played by Pekar. A freeFall favorite making a welcome return for this show, she masters an international array of accents for her characters, which include Mrs. Barrymore, a brooding housekeeper distinctly reminiscent of Young Frankenstein’s Frau Blücher.
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Barrymore’s hubby, the Baskervilles’ hunch-backed butler, is just one among the whirlwind of roles played by the amazing Putnam, who makes his freeFall debut as everyone from a mad hermit to a supercilious Sicilian to Beryl’s dotty lepidopterist husband. Putnam and Pekar also pair up to great comic effect as street-smart urchins who run errands for Holmes.
You may or may not figure out whodunnit. (I was certain that there would be a reversal at the end that didn’t come to pass.) But that’s the rare feat of Baskerville. The mystery keeps you guessing, even as the actors keep you laughing.
See freeFall’s Baskerville
Baskerville: freeFall Theatre, 6099 Central Ave., St. Petersburg. Through April 23: Wed.-Sun; times vary. freefalltheatre.com.
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