The Hound of the Baskervilles (stage version - new edition) (NHB Modern Plays) E-Book

Arthur Conan Doyle

• Herausgeber: Nick Hern Books
• Kategorie: Poesie und Drama
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 115

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2025

Beschreibung

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's most celebrated Sherlock Holmes story gets a gloriously funny makeover. When Sir Charles Baskerville is found dead on his estate, with a look of terror still etched on his face, and the paw prints of a gigantic hound beside his body, the great detective Sherlock Holmes is summoned from Baker Street, with Dr Watson in tow, to unravel the mysteries surrounding his death, and investigate the ancient curse of the Hound of the Baskervilles... Packed full of the verbal and visual ingenuity that hit comedy team Peepolykus is known for, and offering abundant opportunities for riotous comedy and slapstick, The Hound of the Baskervilles will suit any theatre company looking to dust off their deerstalkers for a sublimely funny adaptation of a classic tale. It was adapted by Olivier Award nominees Steven Canny and John Nicholson, and first performed by Peepolykus at the West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds, in 2007, before transferring to the West End. It has since become a firm favourite with theatre companies – both professional and amateur – around the world. This revised, definitive version of the play was first seen in a revival at Theatre by the Lake, Keswick, in 2024, directed by John Nicholson. 'A wonderfully barking spoof' - Telegraph 'A mad hilarity that will make you feel quite sane' - Sunday Times 'Delightfully playful characterisation and good tweaks to the original plot… bursts with imagination, intelligence and twinkling irreverence' - Guardian 'A masterclass in madcap energy… a fun and fresh Sherlock Holmes romp' - The Stage

Leseprobe

THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES

adapted from Arthur Conan Doyle’s novel by

Steven Canny and John Nicholson

NICK HERN BOOKS

London

Contents

Authors’ Note

Original Production Details

Characters

Note on Text

The Hound of the Baskervilles

About the Authors

Copyright and Performing Rights Information

Authors’ Note

We wrote this play very quickly in the autumn of 2006 and then again and again very slowly over the following eighteen years. It might not always read like it, but what you hold in your hands is the result of months of trying things out in the rehearsal room, on stage, and then years of revisiting, rethinking and reworking.

The company this script was originally written for – Peepolykus – have their roots in clowning. For them, double and triple acts who honed their relationships in front of live audiences have always been an inspiration. It felt an exciting prospect to approach Holmes and Watson as another of those classic double acts. Our main aim was to make you laugh but we also set out to make you want to spend time in the company of these central characters, as when you’re watching Laurel and Hardy, The Marx Brothers, The Mighty Boosh. So there are lots of physical routines in the play and the performers’ pace and dexterity is as important as – and directly related to – the speed of the text.

For us, as for many comedy shows and acts, rehearsals were largely about finding solutions to tricky bits of writing. The whole thing was written to be played very fast so, if you’re thinking about doing it, we hope you take the brakes off and enjoy forcing three actors to do the job of twelve.

In the original production, the fact that a Spanish performer (Javier Marzan) was choosing to play Sherlock Holmes was a great writing challenge and a comedic gift. Many subsequent productions of this play, however, have confirmed that the script is not in the least reliant on the casting of a Spaniard. It simply remains that Javier might have been the first Spanish Holmes – outside of Spain, of course.

If you like what you read then it would be shameful not to credit some of the people who were responsible for it being made. If you hate it, you can blame them. They’re the actors: Javier Marzan and Jason Thorpe. They improvised, messed around and made things funny when they hadn’t been. And most of all, Orla O’Loughlin, who directed the first production, cut out all the rubbish bits and put lots of good things in the gaps that were left behind. Special thanks must also go to producer Beth Byrne, whose expertise and courage steered the original production through some murky waters, over the Grimpen Mire and right into the West End. And also to Henri Duckworth at West Yorkshire Playhouse, Caro Newling at Neal Street Productions, and Kim Lawrence for Peepolykus, all of whose support and encouragement contributed to this play ending up in your hands.

For help and support on this revised, definitive version of the play, we’d like to say a special thanks to the cast members of the Keswick revival production in 2024: Dave Hearn, Katy Daghorn and Helena Antoniou.

Lastly, we’d like to the thank the hundreds of theatres, directors and performers who’ve produced versions of this play all over the world throughout the last eighteen years. We’re delighted that together we’re still making audiences laugh.

Steven Canny and John Nicholson December 2024

This stage adaptation of The Hound of the Baskervilles was first commissioned and produced by Neal Street Productions in collaboration with Peepolykus and West Yorkshire Playhouse, and first performed by Peepolykus at the Courtyard Theatre, West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds, on 19 January 2007. The cast was as follows:

ACTOR 1

Javier Marzan

ACTOR 2

John Nicholson

ACTOR 3

Jason Thorpe

Director

Orla O’Loughlin

Designer

Ti Green

Lighting Designer

Jackie Shemesh

Sound Designer

Mic Pool

The production subsequently toured to the Oxford Playhouse, Watford Palace Theatre, Warwick Arts Centre, Winchester Theatre Royal and Liverpool Everyman, before transferring to London’s West End for a season at the Duchess Theatre on 16 April 2007.

It was produced by Neal Street Productions, CMP Limited and West Yorkshire Playhouse, in association with Nimax Theatres, Ian Lenegan and Jay Harris.

Characters

ACTOR 1, Dave

ACTOR 2, Jesse

ACTOR 3, Alex

SIR CHARLES BASKERVILLE

SHERLOCK HOLMES

WATSON

SIR HENRY BASKERVILLE

CABBIE

GUARD

YOKEL 1

YOKEL 2

YOKEL 3

WISE YOKEL

STAPLETON

CECILE

MR BARRYMORE

MRS BARRYMORE

Note on Text

The play is written to be played fast and with little reverence. It’s for three actors and is not gender specific. The actors use their own names (and play versions of themselves) when they talk directly to the audience.

The doubling up of casting works as follows:

ACTOR 1 (DAVE): HOLMES, STAPLETON, CECILE STAPLETON, MR BARRYMORE, MRS BARRYMORE, SLASHER SELDON

ACTOR 2 (JESSE): WATSON, YOKEL 1

ACTOR 3 (ALEX): SIR CHARLES BASKERVILLE, SIR HENRY BASKERVILLE, MORTIMER, CABBIE, YOKEL 2, WISE YOKEL

Pre-Set

Emerging from the pre-show music, a loud, chilling, gust of wind sweeps through the auditorium, becoming deafening before a thunderous bass drop. The moor. Moonlight.

An owl hoots.

Scene One

A man in a winter coat walks forward. It’s SIR CHARLES BASKERVILLE. SFX accompany him as he walks through a mimed gate and lights a real cigar. He looks out. The feeling is that every living thing in the vicinity is on tenterhooks.

He inhales smoke and we hear his out-breath. His third out- breath is replaced by an eerie, far-off howl. Something is approaching, fast. He turns, walks quickly back through the gate, breathing fast. Feet pound the earth accompanied by a terrifying snarl. SIR CHARLES turns and starts running for his life (on the spot). With a great demonic roar, the Hound (in our imagination) leaps on stage. The lights snap out. A flash of light illuminates upstage as the Hound tears through the back of the set, leaving a splintered, large, hound-shaped hole. SIR CHARLES falls to his knees, clutching his heart… and dies, as DAVE runs in.

Scene Two

DAVE (gesturing to tech box). Stop… Stop! STOP!

The soundtrack cuts. Lights come up.

Hello, everyone, and welcome to The Playhouse Theatre. Is everyone okay?

ALEX. Dave. What’s going on?

DAVE. Really sorry about this, Alex.

JESSE (entering). Why have we stopped?

DAVE. My bad, I totally forgot. I had agreed with the theatre to issue a Terror Warning.

ALEX (dismissive). A Terror Warning?!

JESSE. Fair play. Makes sense.

ALEX. No it doesn’t.

DAVE. There was an email shared after last night’s ‘incident’ in the audience.

ALEX. Oh you’re kidding! Just because one person got a little bit scared.

JESSE. And died.

ALEX. And died.

DAVE. People of Leeds! You have willingly chosen to see a dramatisation of arguably literature’s most terrifying story.

ALEX. Fictional story.

JESSE. And if you didn’t come willingly – good luck.

ALEX. But this is obviously THE THEATRE and not real life.

DAVE (reading from A4 sheet). So, if you suffer from any of the following; a heart condition, a nervous disposition, LOW SELF-ESTEEM – (Points at ALEX.) or a general inability to tell fact from fiction, then you might want to consider leaving the auditorium.

ALEX. My god, this is ridiculous, make it stop.

DAVE. Please consider the environment before printing this email. Oh. We will give you the statutory time duration to make your decision.

He tries to set off a stopwatch but it doesn’t work so he makes the beep sound himself.

JESSE. And if you do decide to leave, don’t worry: NO ONE WILL LOOK AT YOU.

DAVE. Absolutely.

JESSE. Can we bring the house lights up please? Full!

ALEX (sotto). I can’t believe you interrupted my mime.

DAVE (sotto). I didn’t have a choice, Alex.

ALEX (sotto). Yes you did, Dave!

JESSE. There’s no shame in being frightened. It’s a primaeval emotion that got hardwired into us back in the times when we were regularly being chased.

DAVE. Exactly.

JESSE. By mammoths and…

Pause.

DAVE. Thank you, Jesse.

JESSE. Dinosaurs.

DAVE. Obviously not dinosaurs.

JESSE. Jurassic cows?

DAVE. No!

ALEX. And resulting in some of us being more – delicate – than others. Like Dave here, who was running out of rehearsals the whole time.

DAVE. So. Moving on –

ALEX. Nothing to be ashamed of, mate. Safe space. Just own it.

DAVE. Right. Fine, fine. Full disclosure, on a couple of occasions I may have possibly –

ALEX. Shat himself.

DAVE. No!

JESSE. He went catatonic in the dress run.

DAVE. Alright. As an immersive theatre artist there are circumstances when I might involuntarily –

ALEX. Follow through.

DAVE. No!

ALEX. He had to listen to his comfort music before he could sort himself out. Do you want to tell everyone what your special comfort music is?

DAVE. I don’t know what you’re talking about.

ALEX. Oh, I think you do.

JESSE. It’s his number one on Spotify Wrapped.

DAVE (hastily). Don’t even have Spotify. Beep beep beep beep – (Doing stopwatch alert sound to distract.) Why don’t we do some introductions? So, in the role of Sir Charles Baskerville, who you just saw miming a gate, but also Sir Henry Baskerville, Dr Mortimer, the cabbie and two yokels…

ALEX. Three actually. All subtly different.

DAVE. Well, let’s unpack that one, shall we –

JESSE. Alex Daghorn!

ALEX steps forward to take applause.

And playing Stapleton, the Barrymores, Seldon and Sherlock Holmes himself; Dave Hearn.

DAVE. Good evening! And good casting.

DAVE takes applause and JESSE steps forward to be introduced.

ALEX. And playing Dr Watson –

JESSE. The lead.

DAVE. Not the lead.

JESSE. If you count the lines –

DAVE. Which we don’t!

ALEX. Jesse Antoniou.

JESSE takes applause. House lights dim.

DAVE. Okay, I think we’re ready to continue. So, we left Sir Charles Baskerville, Squire of Baskerville Hall, Dartmoor… dead. However! The question remains – what caused this man’s heart attack… to his heart.

ALEX. Did Sir Charles actually come face to face with some demon hound from hell?

JESSE. Were the dark forces of evil involved!?

DAVE (chillingly emphatic). Eh? Eh!? Remaining brave, audience members, prepare ye now for –

ALEX. The Hound!… (Musical sting.)

JESSE. Of!… (Musical sting.)

DAVE. The Baskervilles! (Musical sting.)

They prepare the set for Baker Street. Funky transition music.

Scene Three

Baker Street. Day.

A walking stick is on the table. HOLMES (wired) bursts through the door, trailed by WATSON. HOLMES hangs up his coat and turns, posed with a gourd calabash pipe to his mouth as the music concludes. Then…

HOLMES. Someone’s been here. (He then sees the stick.) There! Deductions, Watson. Let’s go.

He throws the stick over his head. WATSON catches it.

And remember – focus on the evidence.

WATSON. Very well, Sherlock. A length of dowel, curved at one end, a rubber bung at the other. A walking stick? Well, let’s not be hasty…

HOLMES. Watson, of course it’s a flipping walking stick! (Takes stick.) The question is, who left it here – where are you going?

WATSON. To find some food. I’m clearly useless at this.

WATSON has opened the door. ALEX is in the doorway ‘early’.

ALEX. Shit. (Hastily exits.)

HOLMES. Wait. You’re not useless. (Removing WATSON’s coat.) It may be that you’re not yourself luminant, but you’re a conductor of light, my friend. A light that shines upon me and – (Clicks fingers for light.) illuminates me.

WATSON. Like a torch?

HOLMES. Yes, very much like a torch. But not any old torch. You’re my torch. My own special torch.

WATSON (immensely proud). I don’t know what to say.

HOLMES. Don’t say anything. Just turn yourself on and keep yourself turned on whenever you’re around me. Like now for example. (Points to door. Beat.) What can you tell me about that missed cue!!

ALEX (rushing to the door). Shit!

Four door knocks in quick succession.

WATSON. It was late.

HOLMES. Yes it was. But it also tells us we have a new case on our hands.

HOLMES opens the door. MORTIMER enters with a sting.

Good day, sir.

MORTIMER. Ah, my stick. Mr Holmes?

HOLMES. And my associate, Dr Watson. So. How are we enjoying our little excursion to London from… (Inspects stick.) Devon.

MORTIMER. How on earth – ?

HOLMES. Iron oxide in the mud. You live in the country – bramble scratches here – and own an irritating little yappy dog, yes?

MORTIMER. Yes.

HOLMES. This is all rhetorical, I don’t actually need confirmation. You’re in town for a few days and you took the opportunity to drop in at the Charing Cross Hospital where you worked as a postgraduate – this stick was a leaving present.

MORTIMER. My God!

WATSON. So slay.

HOLMES. But dropping in on former medical colleagues is not the main reason you caught the overnight sleeper to the capital last night is it, Dr Mortimer; you left-handed, lactose- intolerant, brass band enthusiast!

He is about to break the stick over his knee.

WATSON. No!

HOLMES stops.

It is not.

MORTIMER. How could you possibly have deduced all that from my stick?

HOLMES (withering to the floor). Because I’m Sherlock Holmes. (From floor.) What do you want? And make it interesting.

MORTIMER. I’m confronted with an insuperable problem. And recognising, as I do that you’ve arguably been rendered the world’s leading detective – after your recent capture of the murderous Slasher Seldon.

HOLMES has sprung from lying on the floor to standing on the table with a sword to MORTIMER’s throat.

HOLMES. Arguably?

WATSON. Big mistake.

MORTIMER. Some might say! But I believe Seldon’s arrest has confirmed first place, over and above Monsieur Bertillon, the genius of Grenoble. (Sword even closer.) I say genius, he’s more of a guesser really, isn’t he… a chancer, a charlatan, let’s be honest; the man’s an absolute tool!

HOLMES. The purpose of your visit, Mortimer? Or must I deduce that as well?

He throws the sword to