Noah Johnson, Tristan Layne Tapscott, Andrew Bowler, and Adam Michael Lewis in Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery
A year ago, for the Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse, Corinne Johnson directed Murder on the Orient Express, playwright Ken Ludwig's adaptation of Agatha Christie's novel featuring iconic detective Hercule Poirot. It began quite soberly, with only a few stiff-upper-lip-style witticisms, but by its end had approached satire. For me, that awkward transformation hampered that beautiful production.
History has repeated itself. The theatre's current offering, Johnson's Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery, is Ludwig's version of The Hound of the Baskervilles, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's novel featuring another iconic detective: Sherlock Holmes. Again, despite this production being an excellent exhibition of both stagecraft and acting skills, its comedy devolution did not grab me personally – though some audience members at Thursday's preview performance cheered.
For this show, which debuted 10 years ago in Washington, D.C., Ludwig was seemingly inspired not only by Doyle, but also by playwright Patrick Barlow, who, 20 years ago, turned the serious mystery The 39 Steps into a farce with a twist – four actors portraying dozens of characters. Similarly, Baskerville's many characters are played by five actors, and the humor inherent in this conceit works well.
Adam Michael Lewis – Western Illinois University theatre instructor, frequent performer, and former Circa '21 Bootlegger – portrays Holmes, and refreshingly, plays the character's requisite gravitas without the excessive crankiness or pomposity evident in other portrayals I've seen. His mostly affable, almost huggable detective anchors the action nicely, as an irritable, insufferable Holmes, alongside the often unpleasant minor characters, would've made the show an ordeal. Noah Johnson, fresh from this venue's production of Miracle on 34th Street: The Musical, plays Holmes' protégé – de facto biographer and number-one fanboy Dr. Watson. Johnson's Watson, although clearly awed by his more famous friend, isn't overly obsequious to the man.
Wisely, these actors' character choices let the deducing duo leave most of the comedy to the nearly 40 stooges of all stripes, who are essayed handily by venue veteran Tristan Layne Tapscott and two itinerant performers new to the Circa '21 stage: Andrew Bower and Gillian Weatherford. They all must be exhausted after each performance. Dialect coach Ron May assisted with their many accents – British Isles varieties, including the Queen's English, Cockney, Irish, and Scottish, as well as French and German. Weatherford was particularly adept with these skills.
Some of Baskerville's effective humor stems from slick onstage costume changes, sometimes facilitated by a handy trapdoor and offstage crew members, and broad hints that an actor needs to exit and dress to play a different character pronto. Costume and wig designer Bradley Robert Jensen delivered admirably in both quantity and quality, and dresser Emma Wahlmann was essential. We were also treated to invisible horses and a sheep, which may be credited both to the actors driving them and to props designer/stage manager Kendall McKasson. Scenic designer and artist Becky Meissen evoked 221B Baker Street, Holmes and Watson's famed residence, with an armchair and a cozy gas fireplace. Other locations were indicated with foreboding bare trees or austere window frames, flown in above versatile ramps and steps painted with cobblestones. With the aid of Heather Hauskins' subtle lighting effects, the stones looked startlingly three-dimensional and realistic.
One impressive scene consists mostly of Bower, Johnson, and Tapscott walking from stage right to stage left. Impressive why? The men struggle against a strong wind without the aid of even a blower – just a howling gale sound effect and a lot of good-old-fashioned acting. The desperate clamping of hats to heads and the manual flapping of coats is astoundingly convincing, and the shouting, staggering backward, and clutching at one another are perfection. Their arrival and grappling to shut the door provide a brief respite, until they resolve to go back the way they'd come. The shout of "Oh, no! The wind's shifted!" affords them the opportunity to showcase more fighting against the blast on the moor, but going the other direction. Now that's comedy.
Sound designers Aaron Randolph III and Emmett Boedeker, along with sound engineer Dylan Dutro, aid in this illusion, and also provide a wealth of other realistic sounds, including the chugging and braking of steam trains. Well-timed music stings and thunder add to the whole experience, as do Hauskins' lightning effects, ominous shadows, and pools of red light – the latter an effective, mess-free way to indicate blood. Additionally, technical director Richard Baker and production manager Jeremy Littlejohn deserve lush arrangements of stage lighting cables in vases. (That's a thing, right?) And Johnson's Baskerville also marks a wistful good-bye to fight choreographer Lily Blouin, who assumed many other local-theatre roles onstage and off, and recently left the area for warmer climes.
In my view, rewriting a classic as a comedy while introducing absurdities gradually à la Ludwig, seems to work best only if you're already well-versed in the story on which it's based. With that in mind, Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery offers much to admire, and Sherlock Holmes super-fans may well love it wholeheartedly.
Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery runs at the Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse (1828 Third Avenue, Rock Island IL) through March 8, and more information and tickets are available by calling (309)786-7733 extension 2 and visiting Circa21.com.
