BASKERVILLE • A Sherlock Holmes Mystery

There is little doubt that The Hound of the Baskervilles, which was written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and published back in 1902, is a classic Sherlock Holmes novel and one of Doyle’s most famous pieces of work.  

Blending Gothic horror with detective fiction as Holmes and Watson investigate a family curse and a demonic hound haunting the Baskerville family on the moors of Devonshire; the storyline follows their investigation into the mysterious death of Sir Charles Baskerville and the subsequent danger to the new family heir, Sir Henry, uncovering a plot of murder and greed behind the supernatural legend. 

Fast forward to the comedic genius of playwright Ken Ludwig to transform Doyle’s literary classic into a murderously funny adventure, the results of which Pit & Balcony Community Theatre will have on full display when they present the regional premier of BASKERVILLE: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery, set to run in a series of performances from April 10-12 & 17-19^th.

With Ludwig’s inventively amusing approach, as the male heirs of the Baskerville line are being dispatched one by one, to find the ingenious killer Holmes and Watson must brave the desolate moors trying to escape and attempting to navigate a dizzying web of clues, silly accents, disguises and deceit as five actors deftly portray more than forty characters in this truly wild production.

As an American playwright, author, screenwriter, and director whose work has been performed in more than 30 countries in over 20 languages, Ludwig has had eight productions in London's West End and six productions on Broadway, and his 34 plays and musicals have been staged throughout the United Kingdom and the United States. He has been nominated for and won several awards including the Tony, the Olivier and the Drama Desk Awards.

For Baskerville director Dominique Eisengruber, the challenges and allure presented by this production are what drew her to assume the duties of overseeing it to fruition.  “I’m a really big fan of farces and I love a good murder mystery, and I also directed The Play That Goes Wrong here at Pit a couple years back, so I was already drawn to this show.  When I found out it was only 5 actors portraying 40 roles, I was sold on it,” she laughingly states.

Admittedly, on the surface this sounds like an invitation to theatrical chaos - especially when it comes to visualizing dozens of constant costume changes and hats constantly switching - so how does Dominique bring coherence to a production walking on the edge of chaos?

“It’s definitely a challenge,” she states, “but it’s an exciting, fun, and rewarding challenge for sure.

We spent the first week of rehearsal after we did our read through just working on different dialects  and character movement and things like that to give life to each character, if you will. That was kind of where we started. We wanted to make sure that every character was unique and had their own personality within the context of the play, because we have all these different heirs of the Baskerville line, and they all have different characteristics.”

But how do have actors actually handle these 40 different roles?

“So the way that works is we have one actor, Dale Peters playing Sherlock Holmes, we have another actor Dan Kettler playing Dr. Watson, and then we have three actors, Jeff Rogner, Andrew Eisengruber, and Caroline Asiala  playing everything else,” she explains. “The script breaks down which actor plays assigned roles, so it’s definitely a challenge for the actor because even when they’re going through and highlighting their lines, they have to keep referring to the page at the front of the script that shows the roles they are playing.”

“One of the actors has 14 or 15 roles, one has 9 or 10 roles, and I believe the actress has around `4 characters; and they are all varied. One character is a 14-year old boy, another has a Scottish dialect, so it’s both a challenge and a lot of fun watching each of these actors  bring each of these unique characters to life.”

What qualities does Dominique feel the actors bring to their roles as they weave through all these different identities and personalities?

 “Both actors in the Holmes & Watson roles are playing the ‘straight men’, if you will, who are operating in contrast to the chaotic characters of the other three actors,” continues Dominique.  “I had them all write a breakdown of each of their characters, so during that first week of rehearsals they would know things like how the character of the country farmer is super-old and Irish - things like that to help them formulate the character, and they’ve all been great with finding their voices. They’re a pretty versatile group and we got lucky with the audition turnout,” adds Dominique, “because it’s only a cast of five but we had about twenty people audition.”

Despite the small cast, with all these different characters they portray, what is the biggest challenge  directing this production?   “I think the biggest challenge is going to be tracking costumes and props, because there are so many quick changes,” she reflects.  “Because this show is so costume heavy, we have a whole week set away just to practice quick changes, costumes, and everything else. In fact this is the first time Pit has assigned a Lead Costume designer along with two additional design assistants.  Our lead designer Cathy Arnett is handling the Holmes & Watson characters, and then the other two designers, Michelle Wallace & Anna Beardsley  will handle the other two male actors and the female actress, who will have larger costume changes.”

“There’s also probably around 20 to 30 location changes in this play, so it gets pretty intense,” she continues. “ “Our stage manager Spencer Beyerlein, is working with Scenic Designer Mac Hamstra, and Ken Duby is handling set construction, so we’re very lucky with each individual team,” states Dominique. “Overall, we have some really talented teams. Our set designer Mac came  up with this awesome concept where a part of the set actually turns, so we can create three different walls for different locations.”

When asked if Ludwig’s take on this Holmes classic is more of a drama or a comedy or a mixture of both, and what Dominique feels will draw audiences towards this production, she references the quality of the writing.

“I think something very appealing that drew me to the script past all of the costume changes and those really cool theatrical magic moments is the fact it is really so very well written. It’s a little bit spooky at times, and while there are definitely funny moments and things happening, the book really stays true to the story and keeps the plot going - it’s a great homage to this wonderful Sherlock Holmes tale."

“The cast, designers, and everybody involved is a really great company of people and we're having a blast at rehearsals,” she concludes. “Every single rehearsal we find something new to bring to the show and are very lucky and excited for people to come see it. We all feel a huge sense of community, because there’s some people involved in community theatre for the first time, and others who are old hands, but it’s amazing what can happen when all these faces and energies truly come together as a community.”

The regional premier of Ken Ludwig’s “BASKERVILLE • A Sherlock Holmes Mystery will take place April 10-12 & 17-19 at Pit & Balcony Community Theatre, 805 N. Hamilton St.. in Old Town Saginaw. Performances are at 7:30 PM with 3:00 PM Sunday matinees and tickets are only $20.00 and available online at PitandBalconyTheatre.com or by phoning the box office at 989.754.6587.