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A Sherlock Holmes Adventure With More Fun than Fright

three actors

The game's afoot at the Shawnee Theatre in their production of Arthur Conan Doyle's "The Hound of the Baskervilles" directed by Jake Allen Miller. On the page this is the most frightening of all of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson's adventures. On the stage in Bloomfield it's the funniest of the stories.

In this adaptation by Steven Canny and John Nicoloson just three actors play all the parts. James Sheehan is the master detective. He also appears as the conniving Stapleton, Stapleton's Brazilian beauty of a wife and a country shepherd. Nate Curlott is mostly Holmes loyal assistant Dr. Watson, but he also plays a country bumpkin. Tyler Lubinus as the Baskervilles' friend Mortimer sets up the story of the curse of the Baskerville family appears briefly as a cabby and then plays all the Baskervilles…living and dead.

The plot of "The Hound of the Baskervilles" pretty much follows the intricacies of the original story with the mysterious death of the Baskerville family head on the moors, the arrival of his frightened heir and Watson and Holmes working together and at cross purposes to sort out the happenings and separate the guilty from the innocent.

Around the intermission there's  a special treat. Just for fun the authors have the actors replay the whole hour long first act in an amazing four minutes. It was much appreciated by  Thursday night's very responsive audience.

If theatre about theatre, lots of clever lines, plenty of quick character changes and a hearty helping of knock-about farce are your cup of tea, Shawnee, Summer Theatre of Greene County has just the play for you.

Shawnee's production of Canny and Nicoloson's adaptation of "The Hound of the Baskervilles" plays through Sunday's matinee.  Next weekend it's the summer kids' show "A Year with Frog and Toad."

At the theatre for you, I'm George Walker

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