Review: The Hound of the Baskervilles, Theatre by the Lake

“…the funniest show you can see in Cumbria right now…”

The Hound of the Baskervilles adapted by John Nicholson and Steven Canny, Theatre by the Lake, Keswick

by Ken Powell

I almost feel like I have a hangover this morning. My throat is a bit sore and my stomach hurts. I’m blaming Keswick’s Theatre by the Lake (TBTL) because I spent most of last night roaring with laughter. Your Honour, I bring several charges before you.

The suspect of the crime is none other than the comedy play The Hound of the Baskervilles, played by a ridiculous trio of actors. We might have expected a serious thrilling re-telling of the story seeing as the actors did indeed follow the storyline pretty closely. But no. The dastardly threesome lured the audience in and abused them with hijinks and belly laughs. The fact that the publicity states clearly this is ‘a hilarious makeover‘ should be ignored by the jury and stricken from the court records.

I should have deduced that I would inevitably embarrass myself in front of a packed theatre by guffawing loudly and repeatedly because I knew Dave Hearn would be taking the lead role as Sherlock Holmes (among many other parts along the way). As founding member of Mischief Theatre, he is a repeat offender of reducing audiences to tears with productions such as The Play That Goes Wrong and, not long ago at TBTL, The 39 Steps. By Jove, the cad got me then, good and proper, and he got me again this time too.

I didn’t expect his two partners in crime to be equally as funny though. Helena Antoniou, mainly playing Dr Watson, allegedly plays the straight man but, in fact, has some of the funniest moments. She was in reality the main lead, as she points out at the beginning, having most of the lines of the show. She is aided and abetted by Katy Daghorn, mostly playing Sir Henry Baskerville, whose life is in great danger. The pair of them showed no shame or remorse for displaying scene after scene of silly capers. There was simply no relenting.

The only consolation was that the actors ‘clearly’ didn’t get on, with Dave Hearn pompously interjecting – as though he was important or something – making changes and getting angry with the audience for alleged tweets during the interval (the impertinence!). The resulting opening of the second half was indescribable. Had it carried on a minute longer, I think I would have had to be carried out of the theatre in a swoon.

So bad was our mistreatment by these criminals – forcing us to applaud loudly to whoops and cheers from us all at the end – that I had to take a break before I could go home, taking refuge in the exhibition upstairs celebrating 25 years of TBTL.

Celebration? Evidence, I would call it! The TBTL team wantonly admit their wrongdoings of shows that have deeply moved us or had us rolling in the aisles over the years. Having suffered reviewing a good many of these over the years, I bear the scars of remembering so many of the productions with an ache in my heart and a longing to see them again. Such cruelty.

And so Your Honour, I say that anyone wanting a terrifying, serious production of Conan Doyle’s classic detective story should stay away. It is, in fact, the funniest show you can see in Cumbria right now. Only those foolish enough to want hilarity and relentless entertainment, should set foot in the place for the next month. But mark my words: they will laugh uncontrollably. If they’ve seen The 39 Steps here before, they should know exactly what to expect – I have given fair warning. Beware indeed, the craziness that is the legendary Hound of the Baskervilles.

I rest my case.

The Hound of the Baskervilles plays Theatre by the Lake until Sat 14 September. More info click here.

Ken Powell is chief editor for Northern Arts Review and is also a bestselling author and writer for various publications around the world. A former school teacher, he continues to write educational books along with fiction and travelogues. You can find all his books and various websites here including his popular TEDx talk about the Global Village. He lives with his family in a wonderfully isolated village in West Cumbria where he enjoys drinking tea, chatting with the birds and winding up his dog. You can support his work (or just buy him a coffee) here.