Hound of the Baskervilles has been transformed from a book to a cartoon, a comedy, a Hammer horror movie and numerous straight films, now Peepolykus get to bring their own version to the West Yorkshire Playhouse. This production is as ripe as a fine cheese and very tongue in cheek, no sooner have we been plunged into the eerie goings on the moor, and after being introduced to the ghostly hound through a chilling sound effect, than the three-man cast leap out of character to directly address the audience.  | | Javier Marzan as Sherlock Holmes |
The houselights come up and the audience is warned that if anyone has a 'general inability to tell fact from fiction' then he or she should go now. Luckily no one leaves - and everyone can have a laugh at the discomfort of two latecomers very publicly making their way to seats at the front. With that we are plunged into Conan-Doyle's fog-filled adventure. Onstage with Peepolykus nothing is quite what it seems and absolutely no chance is passed to extract a laugh from every situation, witty aside, malapropisms, cross-dressing and jokey props are just a few things hurled into the mix. With only the three actors playing all the characters there is plenty of chance for ridiculous dressing up and physical comedy.  | | Jason Thorpe and John Nicholson |
The whole atmosphere reminded me of one of Ernie Wise's classic plays (wot he wrote) as performed on the Morecambe and Wise TV show, and believe me that is high praise indeed. It is as though the spirit of the old music hall and the madness of the Goons infest the set like so much dry ice. Given the general mayhem there appears no reason why Sherlock Holmes couldn't be Spanish and speak in a glorious (even sometimes incomprehensible accent). Javier Marzan, for it is he, inhabits the velvet cloaks and deerstalkers with an air of detachment that conveys the arrogance of the world's greatest detective. John Nicholson plays the dim-witted Dr Watson with a perpetual air of surprise and Jason Thorpe is particularly impressive as a whole host of dastardly characters. If you simply let the action flow in front of you then the laughs will flow solidly, and the cast put in one of the hardest working performances I have seen for some time. I did feel that the play was perhaps too long and that slightly less would have been much more. But there is no doubting that you will not have seen a Sherlock Holmes mystery presented like this. The Hound of the Baskervilles is on until Saturday 17 February 2007. | 
