×

Dazzling update on a Sherlock Holmes murder mystery will delight audiences

Kristi Scott, Ashley Ventimiglia, and Lina Aiko Krueger. Ricky Jones/Courtesy photo

Set in the English rural county of Dorset, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s novel “The Hound of the Baskervilles” starred Sherlock Holms and Dr. Watson solving a murder that took place amid the legend of a cursed, spectral hound.

Doyle’s third Holms crime mystery, it was published in 1902. One hundred and thirteen years later, it inspired acclaimed playwright Ken Ludwig to create a humorous adaptation of the classic novel.

Ludwig’s critically acclaimed “Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery,” which features a cast of over 40 characters played by only six actors, opens at the ProArts Playhouse on Jan. 31 and runs to Feb. 16.

Directed by Ricky Jones, it stars Elisha Cullins as Sherlock Holms and Paul Jackel as Watson. Mrs. Hudson is played by Jamie Nicole Wilcox, and all the other parts are performed by Lina Krueger, Ashley Ventimiglia and Kristi Scott.

“I love comedies, especially small cast, intricate comedies,” says Jones. “This show has three actors that play multiple roles, and I always appreciate shows like that. One of the favorite shows I’ve ever seen there were five actors, and they all auditioned for the audience for what parts they’re going to play that night. So all five actors need to know all five roles. It’s things like that really make it fun for me.”

With three actors juggling so many roles, how do they manage? It must be quite a stretch for them.

“There are lots of different types of British Isles accents and the hardest thing is to switch from one to another, and maintain the switch if you are suddenly doing Irish after doing South Wales, while another person is doing Upper London,” he explains. “It can be very challenging, but it’s also a lot of fun. We’ve made no effort to get an authentic Welsh accent, especially because a lot of the characters, they’re only on for half a page before they switch out and do something else. We’re not trying to hide that these actors are playing different characters.”

The show has been widely praised. Broadway World called “Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery,” “ingeniously funny.” The Vancouver arts magazine Stir said: “The adaptation embraces the pulpy mystery and cranks up the comedy, while managing to stay pretty close to the source material,” while an Austin 101 Magazine review noted: ” There was so much good old-fashioned physical, slapstick comedy that was so fast-paced (sometimes we couldn’t keep up).”

The show’s main characters are Holmes and Watson, Sir Henry from Texas, and Dr. Mortimer, the Baskerville area county doctor.

“Watson writes about their escapades for the daily newspapers, and our show opens with Sherlock coming in and Watson’s asleep in his chair, having been writing,” Jones explains. “Sherlock is reading this story that Watson has written about their escapades. So we constantly go back and forth between the real time of Sherlock reading and then Sherlock imagining the story happening in his living room.”

In an interview with The Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Ludwig recalled how he came up with “The Hound of the Baskervilles” adaptation. “When I think about what I’m going to write next, I often wander around my bookshelf, and sticking out was this wonderful volume of adventure classics. What a great story with timeless characters. Sherlock and Watson have never waned in popularity. I started writing. I tried something I’d never done: write this play for five actors — one Sherlock and another Watson and the other three would play all the other characters.”

Jones says: “Ludwig knew that he wanted to write a Sherlock and he knew that he wanted to write ‘Baskerville,’ but he was struggling with figuring out how to go about it. He had just written ‘Murder on the Orient Express,’ and was in the mood to have another mystery. Then he saw the show ‘The 39 Steps,’ which is two actors and three other actors that play lots of different characters. And he said, ‘That’s the style that I want to write it in.'”

“Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery” opens at the ProArts Playhouse on Jan. 31 and runs to Feb. 16. Show dates and times are Jan. 31 and Feb. 1 at 7:30 p.m.; Feb. 6, 7 and 8 at 7:30 p.m.; Feb. 9 at 2 p.m.; Feb. 13, 14 and 15 at 7:30 p.m. and Feb. 16 at 2 p.m.

Only $99/year

Subscribe Today