Reviewed by Alice Clayton
The Hound of the Baskervilles
Venue 43
The Space
Aug 22nd
Company: Blue Orange Arts
I'd not been to this particular Space venue before and upon entering it I liked the space. It felt like a good home for a play.
The Hound of the Baskervilles is probably Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's most famous piece of work and likely the most well-known detective stories ever written.
The set was just a table with a black cloth, a few props, a hat, a gun, and a chair. Minimal is always good when there is so much to be told.
Then enters Doctor John Watson, played by Alan Groucott.
Now, in a one person show the first line is so often the most important. It puts the audience at ease and for me there was a moment of uncertainty. It wasn't a fumble on the line, it wasn't that the actor looked nervous, it was just something that made me a little wary at the start, which I hasten to follow with, was unnecessary, as Alan Groucott performed the show very well.
Hound of the Baskervilles like any other detective story has a lot of subplots; details that are important, characters with names that are vital. I would in truth would have liked more variation on each of these. With so much being told at speed, if you didn't already know the story I think getting lost would be easily done.
Costume was nice and in keeping, the prop gun effective. The sound effects when used were used to good effect. Lighting was basic, but again, good.
Although each time the chapter ended and we moved onto the next with title, it would've been nice to use lights here more.
Maybe a cross-fade, quick black out into slow fade up with the chapter title. Anything to add a little more dynamic.
Overall, Blue Orange Arts brought to Edinburgh a decent version of Conan Doyle's classic. But with a bit more flair and bigger character changes I think this would be a show I'd highly recommend, but unfortunately it just isn't.
Perfectly good, but needed more.
⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Hound of the Baskervilles plays until August 24th 2024. Tickets are available from https://www.thespaceuk.com/shows/2024/sherlock-holmes-the-hound-of-the-baskervilles
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