#steven canny

[timespanner]

This smash hit comedy adaptation of Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic adventure, directed by Lotte Wakeham and adapted for the stage by Steven Canny and John Nicholson, will open to audiences from Thu 1 July – Sat 7 August.

Press release | Book tickets here

[waitedforgarridebs]

“We are what we are, Watson. And... I love you, too.”

Or: The story of how @belladonnaxy and I unknowingly (!) went to a stage play that made Johnlock canon*

Yes, they did that.

(*And we totally took that picture before going in ... we been knew.)

More of my personal impressions after the cut (beyond the one, big fact that I obviously already spoilered), but: 

Before that I’d like to present to you the great and almighty archive.org, where I found a recording of the play (x) done at BBC Radio Four’s More Than Words Festival in Bristol (2012). 

So, please, enjoy – because there is so much gay subtext in this play, and the feeling of getting the pay-off for it at the very end is the best thing in the world.

Other than the radio play, the original production (and ours now) was only done by three male actors, and only the actor playing Watson was never really changing to play other people (and is therefore considered the “lead character” thehe). Both the actor who played Holmes, and the actor who played Sir Henry, were changing a lot, which led to some very funny pauses sometimes, where they played up the time it took to change into the other costume for laughs a lot.

There were... a lot of fourth wall breaks, in general. Which didn’t hurt me, like, at all :) 

Do you like puns? Because there are a LOT of them in this play (and I mean a lot). Especially about dogs. But more so... about gay things.

You know, like...

Watson describing a walking stick as “a thin, length of wood with a curious curve at one end”.

Watson is Holmes’s conductor of light, “my(!) torch. Just... turn yourself on. And keep yourself turned on whenever you are around me.”

There are two posh guys getting off ... [long pause] ... the train.

Furthermore:

Watson is obsessed with food (and never gets to eat) – he especially would like a sausage.

When Watson is writing Holmes to report about what’s happening, he is pondering about how many kisses he should put next to his name when signing the letter (no joke).

Sir Henry constantly keeps pointing out the beauty of women to Watson, who simply shrugs it off each time and has like zero opinion about it.

Watson: “I just feel like... nothing compared to you.” Holmes: “You are not nothing, Watson. You are my torch.” Watson: “I love you, Sherlock.” Holmes: “I know.” (which, thank you @mollydobby, is possibly a Star Wars reference (x) :))

Holmes: “I need you, Watson.”

And, the famous last line of the play: “And, Watson: I love you, too.”

On a sidenote: There was a horse named Victor.

And before the interval, they raised all the open questions about who Cecilia Stapleton really is, “so, was it a girl or a dog?”

Yeah.

I’ve not listened to the full recording on the archive yet, so I don’t know how they would implement certain things, because this one is a radio and not a stage play – so, just to give you some visuals, too:

Watson and Holmes meet Sir Henry for the first time in a sauna in the London steam rooms, sitting there with him, Sir Henry’s crotch on eye-level (because Sir Henry is sitting on the upper bench), and Sir Henry casually completely unwraps his towel to readjust it, and stands there, flashing all his glory right into Watson’s face.

Leading to Watson blurting out, “We need to get out of here or I’ll explode.”

The first night at the Baskerville manor, it is so incredibly scary, with all the thunderstorms and hound-noises from the outside and whatnot – we see Sir Henry in his bed (which is standing upright on the stage, so we get the view from above), and he’s so frightened he yells out Watson’s name - who too, is frightened... so yes, in the end, they were bed-sharing. :)

Before the interval, one of the actors “fainted”, which was their perfect excuse to announce there shall be a little break.

After the interval, the Holmes actor came back on stage, holding up his phone like a drama queen and gesticulating to the Watson-actor, “READ IT!” - apparently, someone had tweeted during the interval, that while it was an enjoyable play, the guy who played Holmes was dragging out his lines like an asthmatic donkey, which is why the play felt really slow. So, making an “executive decision”, they would re-do the entirety of the first act now, but faster. Which. Was. The. Funniest. Thing. Ever. (And while skipping a lot of lines, naturally, they made really sure not to skip any of the gay subtext.)

When “Sir Henry” died by falling off the precipice after being chased by the hound, Watson tries to do CPR on the body, while Holmes stands there yelling it is useless, because “half his head is missing”. Watson ends up looking at Holmes like “try me bitch” and stubbornly keeps doing the CPR. Holmes, “What kind of a doctor are you even????” Watson stands up, “FINE!”, and kicks the rag-doll that is the corpse across the entire stage. Repeatedly.  Holmes, suddenly yelling, “This is the worst thing that happened in my entire career!”, joins in the kicking the corpse around to relief his frustration. 

Watson is being a bit bumbling and slow-witted in this one, so there is this one moment where he said something incredibly moronic, and Holmes just looks at him, sighs, is #done, #this is the idiot I married, #lies down on the floor and cries.

At one point, Sir Henry was shaving and Watson suddenly rushes him to go downstairs to meet up with Cecille Stapleton. But there is still all the shaving cream on his face, so Watson shall help clean Sir Henry up, quickly. The shaving cream is everywhere... on his face... in his mouth... in his eye :)))))

Watson and Holmes at one point disappear to play snooker together. You know. Aiming at the ball with a stick, trying to hole it, making way more rhythmic “aiming motions” with the stick than really necessary... 

In general, there were a lot of sticks. And guns. And torch-guns.

Disclaimer (because I know this question will come up):

The entire play was a comedy, quite slap-stick, maybe a bit of Monthy Python-y humour – but yes, still, during the break we had our doubts whether all the “gay jokes” would end up being queerbaiting or not. 

While we really thought they were genuinely funny jokes then already.

And they also dragged the straight cliché plotline of “he was a boy, she was a girl” through the mud a little with the whole Sir Henry / Cecille thing – going so far as including an entire tango dancing scene montage with disco balls and ridiculous music.

But in the end, both Sir Henry and Cecille AND Sherlock and John ended up saying “I love you” to each other in the second act, just to really drive it home what saying these words to another person actually means.

And it was glorious.

Second disclaimer:

This play told a story, and this story is over. And yes. There was gay subtext and there was pay-off for it at the end of this story. 

So, please: Don’t salt about Moftiss on this post.

If you find this after series 5 has aired and they actually haven’t made it canon, then yes, go ahead and salt if you really have to. But not now. Not on this post.

Also, one more thing.

I’d like to point out the official listing of characters on the theatre’s website:

We should maybe have seen it coming... ;)

Anything to add, @belladonnaxy? 

[a-different-equation]

By Spring 2017 The Hound of the Baskervilles (2007) has had more than 70 theatrical productions worldwide with the majority being in the US. (wikipedia)

@sanguinarysanguinity it's one of the most sucessful, is it not? Gilette's might have run longer (but who knows) but from the global phenomena aspect? Further, there are certainly more shows. Already in Frankfurt, it's the 2nd season (first was sold out by 98%!).

And its recorded for the BBC and there's a French translation too (which is, when I remember correctly, not only staged in France but in Belgium as well).

I think that there will be a German translation soon too (Munich has its premiere in July 2018; there were shows in Austria and Switzerland; there's clearly a market).

Do we have an (inofficial) expert about this in fandom? Or, is there an entry in Holmestice or so? I would love to hear other people's view on 'The Hound of the Baskervilles'!

[hattydaze]

This will feel like rubbing salt into open wounds, because if you don’t already have a ticket to see The Hound of the Baskervilles at the Jack Studio Theatre, I’m afraid it’s not looking good.  However I am writing this in an advisory way for next year, and I don’t just mean for the Christmas show, which ends its run on Sunday 8th January, an extra date which was added due to public demand.  If you have missed out this time, I beseech you for your own sakes, don’t miss out next time!

The show is an absolute joy. We went along without preconceptions, which made it even more enjoyable.  The Hound of the Baskervilles is one of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s most famous stories which features Sherlock Holmes and his sidekick Dr Watson. There have been many versions on the small screen and on the radio, both in the UK and abroad. Sherlock Holmes and Watson are such cult characters that, as one of the lines reminds us, the name of the show alone will sell the seats – and for some reason Sherlock Holmes is especially great at Christmas time.

Adam Elliott and Joey Bartram.                                                                                      Photo: Tim Stubbs Hughes

You might already know the plot. Sir Charles Baskerville is dead and Holmes and Watson are trying to unearth the mystery of what happened. There are clues and rumours about a giant hound-like creature which has been heard and its traces left behind on the moors of Dartmoor. You probably don’t know this version of the story though, adapted by Steven Canny and John Nicholson (who have had their shows performed at the Jack before).  It has just the three actors, who are all brilliant – Joey Bartram, Adam Elliott and Andrew Fitch – and they take you on a ridiculous journey to Dartmoor and back – and back again.  There is intrigue, there is cross-dressing, there is excellent facial hair, a proper Inverness cape, and of course some wonderful Holmesian headware. It is silly, it is enjoyable and it is very very funny.

The Jack is an intimate theatre already, and every seat was full on the night we went to see it.  You could feel and hear everybody enjoying it as much as I was.  The atmosphere was so convivial that I spoke to my neighbour (and I don’t just mean the one I’m married to) and to a group of older ladies in the pub in the interval.  I was assured by one of them that every Christmas show is fantastic and that they come every year without fail.

The production team even fixed it for us to have real life fog as we left the theatre!  Perfect for this thriller set on the moors!

Photographer: Tim Stubbs Hughes

Photographer: Tim Stubbs Hughes

Photographer: Tim Stubbs Hughes

You may already be a regular at the Jack, in which case I don’t wish to teach you or your granny how to suck eggs, or indeed mince pies at this time of year.  But if you are new to the idea, and particularly if you are like me and local to SE4, then be clear that this local studio theatre above the Brockley Jack pub is not for amateur dramatics. It is an award-winning creative space which welcomes new and old writing and which consistently puts on theatre of this calibre.  Even if you don’t get to see The Hound of Baskervilles (and I feel a bit sorry about that) then please do look up the listings for the Jack Studio Theatre, and make sure you investigate for yourself in 2017.  Pardon the pun.

I attended The Hound of the Baskervilles on a press ticket. The Hound of the Baskervilles plays until 8th January 2017. Tickets are sold out but see for yourself at this link. For full information about the Jack Studio Theatre, visit the website.

The Hound of the Baskervilles, at the Jack Studio Theatre (review) This will feel like rubbing salt into open wounds, because if you don't already have a ticket to see The Hound of the Baskervilles at the Jack Studio Theatre, I'm afraid it's not looking good.