Cut
to
the
Chase
at
the
Queen's
Theatre
Hornchurch
29.10.2012
It
worked
for
The
39
Steps.
It
worked,
in
this
very
same
house,
for
Travels
With
My
Aunt.
And
now
it's
the
turn
of
Sherlock
– deerstalker,
meerschaum,
magnifying
glass
and
all
– as
he
solves
the
mystery
of
The
Hound
of
the
Baskervilles.
This
three-man
adaptation,
a
"comedy
thriller",
retains
all
the
key
elements
of
Conan
Doyle's
story
-
hound,
moors,
family
seat,
Great
Grimpen
mire
– and
cheerfully
twists
them
and
sends
them
up
something
rotten.
Some
might
see
the
influence
of
Pirandello
and
Brecht,
others
panto
and
Little
Britain.
Whatever,
the
result
is
often
excruciatingly
funny,
with
surreal
silliness
and
slapstick
galore.
The
stage
is
a
spool
of
film,
with
old
prints
projected
as
a
back
drop.
There
is
also
a
movable
door,
and
lots
of
smoke.
Underscoring
the
silent
movie
feel,
an
upright
piano
stage
right,
Puccini
and
Prokofiev
pressed
into
service,
played
with
style
and
sensitivity
by
Steven
Markwick,
who
also
gives
us
his
coarse
yokel.
All
the
other
parts,
though,
are
played
by
the
talented
trio
of
Simon
Jessop,
who
is
Watson
throughout,
Greg
Last,
who
is
Baskerville,
a
cabby,
and
the
butt
of
many
cruel
jibes,
and
Jonathan
Markwood,
Holmes,
both
the
Stapletons,
and,
in
a
glorious
Pythonesque
moment,
a
hermit
in
a
post
box.
They
all
three
embrace
the
slightly
desperate
style
the
piece
demands,
slipping
in
and
out
of
character,
battling
gamely
against
all
odds
to
keep
the
show
on
the
road.
Jessop
makes
a
bluff,
often
painfully
dim
sidekick,
Markwood
a
suave
Holmes
in
the
Brett
mould,
and
also
enjoys
hamming
it
up
as
the
totally
bonkers
baddie
brother
and
sister/husband
and
wife.
Last's
relative
inexperience
is
played
upon,
but
his
performance
is
in
many
ways
the
funniest
of
the
three,
as
he
bumbles
through
the
perilous
plot.
Necessity,
in
this
genre,
is
the
mother
of
invention
and
improvisation.
Amongst
many
ingenious
pieces
of
inspiration:
the
train
carriage
sequence
[loved
the
luggage
rack],
the
cab
ride,
the
mire,
the
Turkish
Bath
and
the
ancestor
portraits.
It
is
a
bold
move
to
stop
the
action
a
minute
or
so
in
for
health
and
safety
reasons,
and
then
pick
up
again
after
some
desultory
banter
and
in-jokes.
Even
bolder,
goaded
by
a
critical
interval
Tweet,
to
recap
the
whole
first
act
at
a
gallop
before
embarking
on
the
second.
Brilliantly
done,
piling
on
the
pace,
one
of
the
best
things
in
a
constantly
amusing
show.
production photo: Nobby Clark
this piece first appeared on The Public Reviews
production photo: Nobby Clark
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