Get your deerstalker cap on — the play’s afoot! Ken Ludwig’s Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery transforms Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic “The Hound of the Baskervilles” into a murderously funny adventure. The male heirs of the Baskerville line are being dispatched one by one, and Sherlock Holmes is on the case. To find their ingenious killer, Holmes and Watson must brave the desolate moors before a family curse dooms its newest heir. Watch as our intrepid investigators try to escape a dizzying web of clues, silly accents, disguises, and deceit as five actors deftly portray more than forty characters. Does a wild hellhound prowl the moors of Devonshire? Can our heroes discover the truth in time? Join the fun and see how far from elementary the truth can be.
Why this production? Says Director Corey McDaniel, “I believe that Harlequin has chosen to kick off the 2023 season with this piece because we want to launch the year with a true crowd-pleaser and lots of joy and laughter. This selection allows us to introduce a year of pure entertainment. The 2023 season holds the most musicals and comedies ever produced in a single year by Harlequin and Baskerville represents what audiences have been asking for as we all attempt to relieve ourselves of the stress and anxieties of the past several years.”
Of the five actors playing a total of 37 roles in this high-energy romp, only one is a Harlequin newcomer: Russell Matthews, who plays Sherlock Holmes. Of the production, he says, “Baskerville is a fantastic marrying of comedy and mystery. You’re taking everything you love about your favorite Sherlock Holmes story, ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’, and you’re putting in a madcap comic energy with a lot of gags, a lot of fun. We’re taking the material seriously, but not too seriously, so we’ve got something in there for everybody.”
What excites him about tackling this piece and what does he think audiences will respond to the most? McDaniel says, “This play is just PURE FUN! Aside from having 37 characters, it also has 30 brief and fast-moving scenes. I think that audiences are going to love the actors’ choices about all their characters. All the characters are turning out to be fully realized individuals with histories and rich personalities, with quirks, flaws, and relatable humanity. I also anticipate that audiences are going to love the atmosphere of the design elements which will take us to that eerie, shadowy darkness of a true murder mystery.”
The production runs January 18th-February 11 at the State Theater. Tickets are available online at harlequinproductions.org, by phone at 360-786-0151, or in person 12-5:30 pm, Tuesday-Saturday at the Washington Center, and beginning 2 hours before performances at the State Theater.