THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES

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 Holmes – 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 backdrop. 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. Among 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.

- Michael Gray, Tue 30 Oct 2012

So you're in the mood to be spooked over Hallowe'en, are you? And Conan Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles seems just the thing to send shivers down your spine? Perhaps not if you're going to see the Steven Canny and John Nicholson version, first developed for Peepolykus, which Bob Carlton has revived for his cut to the chase... company.

It's a clever, rip-roaring spoof for just four performers, who certainly give the audience its money's worth. Norman Coates' set relies on projections, Christopher Howcroft's lighting, a single but highly peripatetic door and vast quantities of dry ice to make considerable impact; you're never quite sure what (or who) is going to materialise next.

We begin with actors waiting to start their performance and a whole muddle of announcements to be made to the audience. Once we're all thoroughly fuddled, the play proper begins. Jonathan Markwood is Sherlock Holmes and a complete gallery of strange people (male and female) with whom the investigating duo come into contact down on Dartmoor. Simon Jessop is Dr Watson, a medical man always trying to catch up with his friend's quicksilver thought processes – and failing hilariously in the process.

Then there's Greg Last who we first meet as a still-wet-behind-the-ears drama school graduate in his first real job and then proceeds to play most of the parts not already taken by Markwood. Accompanying on the piano predominantly with Puccini and Prokofiev (when not providing sound effects and doddering away as assorted country bumpkins) is Steven Markwick, who gives a new meaning to “melodrama”.

It all adds up to a thoroughly enjoyable night out. But be careful of witches and hellhounds when you make your way across the car-park – just in case...

-Anne Morley Priestman, Tue 30 Oct 2012

Victorian detective Sherlock Holmes is really in right now with trendy, modern remakes starring Benedict Cumberbatch on TV and Robert Downey Junior in the film franchise.

The Queen’s Theatre in Billet Lane, Hornchurch, has produced its own version of the Conan Doyle classic The Hound of the Baskervilles as a howling, comic melodrama.

So, does it work? By God, Holmes, it does.

Three members of the theatre’s Cut to the Chase company play 16 roles between them.

This needs quick changes, clever prop handling and spot-on timing.

It has the chance to go very horribly wrong.

But Jonathan Markwood, Simon Jessop and Greg Last play a blinder, along with accompanying pianist Steven Marwick who gets roped in as a yokel.

They make a complex choreography look, oh, so simple.

In the first act the actors break down the fourth wall for a chat about the safety curtain.

I found that curious but it was merely a clever plot device for the opening of the second act, which I am not going to reveal apart from to say it had the applauding audience collapsing with laughter. At one point Markwood, as Holmes, manages to be both characters he is playing in the same room at the same time.

Jessop, as Watson, and Last, as a lovelorn Baskerville, are excellent too.

I particularly liked the steam room, train journey and face in a picture scenes. The set is stripped down with just a back projection of black and white period photos.

There is plenty of howling, mists and gunshots while the piano adds a clever silent film feel, upping and downing the tension. John Nicholson and Steven Canny are the writers and it is directed by Bob Carlton.

The show runs until November 17. Tickets are £16-£24.50. Call the box office on 01708 443333 or book at www.queens-theatre.co.uk

It never ceases to amaze me how many different ways you can change classic stories, though the programme legend 'A barking mad spoof' should have warned me.

Conan Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles was given the Queen's treatment with artistic director Bob Carlton unleashing his wild and imaginative humour.

This hound certainly wasn't a dog's breakfast, as this production was a feast of humour, skill and pure acting as seasoned professionals Jonathan Markwood and Simon Jessop were joined by Greg Last and musician Steven Markwick in a frenzy of character changes as the quartet ran through every character.

The pace was in gears way above normal and required an equal amount of concentration and laughter in the same proportions.

If you were a little late in digesting the jokes, the play had moved on a couple of circuits before you had time to breathe.

Jonathan and Simon are two of the prime in-house cut to the chase... actors and both share the experience of acting and reacting at top speed.

Both have done it before but not together that often and it was pure joy to watch them tear up the stage in a masterclass of how off-the-wall comedy should be done.

In such exalted company was Greg Last, who has just joined the company, and what a baptism!

His interpretation of his role as Sir Henry Baskerville was excellent and complemented the antics of Jonathan as Sherlock Holmes and Simon's Dr Watson among others.

Then Mr Carlton brought in the musical talents of Steven Markwick on the piano who turned out to be a competent side stage comedian with his dour and serious look that many Queen's Community Comopany players know so well.

The evening was remarkable as there were too many thhings to remember because there was not time to! It blurred into a total experience of theatrical magic with many of the audience heard saying it was good enough to see again.

It's certainly one not to miss.

Runs until Saturday November 17. Bookings on 01708 443333.

-Barry Kirk, Weds 7 Nov 2012