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Shakespeare & Company presents the American premiere of The Hound of the Baskervilles11:20AM / Monday, August 31, 2009
LENOX, Mass. - Buckle up: the “boys” are at it again! Take one beloved story which really needed no elaboration (let’s be honest), add three actors playing sixteen characters, a few fake beards, plenty of cross-dressing and a host of bad British accents, and you get S&Co.’s uproariously funny The Hound of the Baskervilles.
This American premiere of Steve Canny and John Nicholson’s zany adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s story is directed by otherwise respected Artistic Director Tony Simotes. It is truly a wild and wooly romp that takes one of the most popular Sherlock Holmes tales and ruins it—umm, we mean, turns it inside out—stuffing it with endless laughs as it barrels forward at a breakneck pace, all the while daring the audience to hold on tight with both hands. This madcap adventure is great for the Sherlock Holmes novices, and will be only mildly offensive to the hardcore purists…we hope.
The Hound of the Baskervilles plays in the Elayne P. Bernstein theatre from September 18 through November 8. Press opening is Saturday, September 26 at 7:30pm. To RSVP or to arrange interviews, contact Publicity Director Elizabeth Aspenlieder at (413) 637-1199 ext 110 or aspenlieder@shakespeare.org.
The Bernstein is air-conditioned and wheelchair accessible. Performances in the evenings run at 7:30 p.m. and in the afternoons at 2:00 p.m. Tickets range from $12 to $48. For a complete listing of productions and schedules, to inquire about the 40% Berkshire Resident Discount, Youth Rush tickets, or other discounts, or to receive a brochure, please call the Box Office at (413) 637-3353 or visit www.shakespeare.org. For custom-designed group visits including options for artist talkbacks, tours and catered events, contact the Group Sales office at (413) 637-1199 ext. 132.
If you see only one play this Fall featuring highly trained Shakespearean actors in completely inappropriate and embarrassing situations whilst donning dresses, wigs, and masks… make it this one! The Hound of the Baskervilles unites the potent comedic team of Simotes and actors Jonathan Croy, Josh Aaron McCabe and Ryan Winkles. Having earned critical accolades for his production of Othello at Shakespeare & Company in 2008 (remounted this year due to popular demand), Simotes decided to sacrifice his well-earned reputation by following it up with this outrageous farce. (Great way to start your tenure as Artistic Director, Tony! Well done. The donors will be delighted.). This move seems particularly surprising, as Simotes was somehow able to rehabilitate his career after bringing The Compleat Works of Wlm Shakespeare (Abridged) to Shakespeare & Company in 2000. It is less surprising when one realizes The Compleat Works show was a huge hit, both critically and at the Box Office, and was shamelessly reprised in 2001 and 2003. (Sound familiar?)
“I had absolutely nothing to do with this production,” Founding Artistic Director Tina Packer declares.
In the spirit of The Compleat Works, The Hound of the Baskervilles features three actors who breathlessly play all 16 characters as they run from scene to scene, changing costumes and sets (and towels) along the way. Croy, a mildly embarrassed veteran of S&Co.’s productions of The Compleat Works, directed critically acclaimed productions of Twelfth Night and Romeo and Juliet this season (and kept audiences in stitches with his roles in The Ladies Man in 2008 and Rough Crossing in 2007) before taking on the role of Watson, clearly not the quickest bunny in the forest (among other roles). With his slight frame and gentle, girlish goatee, McCabe ably plays all the female roles, including two husband-and-wife pairs, one of whom has a distinct Spanish accent…or at least we think that’s supposed to be Spanish. Plus some guy named Sherlock. Winkles, who delighted audiences this season with his gut-busting performance as Sir Andrew Aguecheek in Twelfth Night, enriches (hah) his credentials with a turn as the iconic Yokel #2, among other roles, in Hound.
“After the powerful experience of re-mounting our extraordinary production of Othello, I wanted to continue my first season as Artistic Director of Shakespeare & Company with a richly layered production that entertains while speaking profound truths about the human condition—and to make Tina proud along the way,” Simotes explains. “But instead, I directed this.”
Shakespeare & Company had a runaway hit with its American premiere of The Secret of Sherlock Holmes in 2007, drawing Sherlock devotees from far and wide and even hatching a three-day “Sherlock Weekend” filled with Victorian-themed events and presentations from some of the leading experts on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s works. Now, S&Co. is hoping desperately that some of those Sherlock fans have a sense of humor.
At the heart of this play is Sir Arthur’s cherished story, about an aristocratic British family which is terrorized, generation upon generation, by a spectral hound intent on killing all the male heirs. The great detective Sherlock Holmes sends his trusted sidekick Watson to the appropriately eerie countryside to investigate, while he observes in disguise. The duo meets a parade of unforgettable local characters, whose potential guiltiness seems connected to the size of their suspiciously hirsute chins.
Simotes points to the rich detail included in the original story, creating a fully contained world in which the reader (and now, the theatergoer) can become engrossed. “It’s the amazing specificity of the mystery writer,” Simotes says. “Doyle was an absolute master, who had done his research. None of the details are accidental. This story is filled with real locations, and it takes place somewhere that’s particularly eerie and spooky, even for England. It reminds me of the great horror films from the 1950’s. The reason those stories are so resonant is that, despite their frequent campiness, they’re informed by the anxieties of the Atomic Age and the very real threat of the end of the world. Our Hound of the Baskervilles won’t be quite so unnerving—at least, not on purpose—but it will be great fun to play in this world, one that is so richly captured on the page.”
Will the hound be caught? Will the source of the Baskervilles’ troubles be found? Will Holmes and Watson make it out of there alive? And will Shakespeare & Company raise another million dollars to get its Kresge Foundation incentive grant? The answers can only be found at The Hound of the Baskervilles. And if that doesn’t work, it always helps to buy another ticket and come again. In fact, a lot of people like to buy extra tickets so they have plenty of elbow room. We’re just saying. |
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