Ken Ludwigs Baskerville a Sherlock Holmes Mystery Review
TheatreBloom rating:
The game'south itinerant! Well, the show is afoot at any rate! It all began, as these things exercise, with a brand new world premier production at Arena Stage. Ken Ludwig, the acclaimed comedic playwright, has taken his pen to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's characters and adjusted a brilliant comedy suitable for theatrical enjoyment of all types. Bursting at the seams with curiosity, wonder, and the chemical element of surprise, this hysterical new piece of work entices the audience not only with its morbid beauty and thrilling mysterious intrigue, but with its comedic charm, shocking wit, and delectable composure. A true theatrical gem twinkling amid the thick fog of the moors, Baskerville will have yous jumping to the edge of your seat one moment and rolling in the aisles with laughter the side by side. Directed by Amanda Dehnert, this seductively bright product is a surefire hit.
Capturing the essence of the tail end of Victorian England in all its parts, both bustling city life and the pastoral calm of the moors, is a Herculean endeavor mastered flawlessly by Gear up Designer Daniel Ostling. A blank ready does the trick, let the listen and the imagination fill in the rest. But things aren't always what they seem, especially when information technology comes to Sherlock Holmes and Ostling'south set is no unlike. With all of the enchanting and mysterious whimsy of London town melded into the creeping treacheries of the bucolic moors, Ostling creates brilliance with hydraulic platforms, magnetic gardens that thunder down from the fly space, and trap doors galore. Don't let the simplistic appearance fool yous, there is true mechanic genius at work in Ostling's set up.
Truthful to form, Costume Designer Jess Goldstein makes a remarkable impression with not but her styles but her variety of outfits displayed throughout the performance. Non only are the costumes impressive to marvel at, but they are exceedingly functional in their ease of shifting on and off. The costume changes in this show turn 3 actors into some two dozen characters and the outcome is accomplished with impeccable timing cheers to Goldstein's work. Her subtle nods in the threadwork to the period are much appreciated, particularly in the bow-ties (after all, bow-ties are cool) and the finely pressed duds bestowed upon Watson and Holmes. The lavish colors, styles, and fifty-fifty accessories seen in the remaining two dozen characters are delicious icing on this mysterious cake as information technology were.
The vast array of noises comprised together to create a multi-faceted soundscape bound along from the minds of Sound Designers Joshua Horvath and Ray Nardelli. With steam trains and the eerie sounds of the moors there's no telling where these designers might have the bear witness. But a plethora of locations are covered past traversing Ostling'south "bare set" with Horvath and Nardelli marking the aural trail. Complimenting the other design aspects of the production superbly, the foreboding score that opens the show is equally mystifying and enigmatically engaging equally the funnier more fantastical sounds featured afterwards in the performance.
Tongues should wag at the impressive sounds that escape the actors' mouths, all guided past Dialect Motorcoach Gillian Lane-Plescia. Whilst keeping Holmes and Watson sounding properly educated with a hint of refined London town in their vernacular, Lane-Plescia successfully masters a devilish railroad train ride all across England, and even dips into Castile. The dialects are all the same some other marvel that makes this piece so thoroughly enjoyable; each distinctive graphic symbol having non only their own individual look only their ain unique sound.
Managing director Amanda Dehnert works truthful theatrical magic with the blocking of scenes, placement of actors, timing of disquisitional moments, and her exceptional understanding of how one-act works in a Ken Ludwig play. Dehnert exercises the comedic moments to their fullest potential; Watson being startled and dangerously dislocated every a blast of steam shoots up from the stage floor signaling a train or Holmes having to enquire to see a character several times considering the actor he'due south currently engaged with also plays that character. These finely tuned mechanisms fit like clockwork into the writing and make the prove that much funnier. Dehnert also displays a seasoned hand with the dramatic and suspenseful elements of the performance; precision and order delivered in the heightened moments of tension. A truthful directorial souvenir, Dehnert's work results in an epic production.
Listed merely as Actors I, Two, and 3, Stanley Bahorek, Michael Glenn, and Jane Pfitsch bear the evidence along enhancing the Holmes' experience. Playing uncommonly well off each other as well as the other ii performers in the production, these 3 well-seasoned performers work out the nuances of every scene and character in which they play. Their comprehensive understanding of comic timing is second to none and their ability to physically work a scene to its fullest potential, both comic and dramatic, is outstanding. Truer tradesmen of the acting craft would exist hard to come by, and these three in peculiarly deliver sensational performance throughout.
Bahorek, who amid others plays the saucy and sassy Spanish desk clerk, is credited with the most impressive costume-character change in the production and deserves praise for that if goose egg else. His ability to slide flawlessly from one character to the next, in physicality, free energy, voice communication audio, and general mannerisms is hitting. Taking on the rudimentary character archetype of the misshapen butler is a rewarding claiming to picket, specially when Bahorek goes at it with his Matron-of-the-house wife, a surly stalwart type played by Pfitsch.
Information technology'south not piece of cake being the only woman on stage, and although she is not responsible for every female graphic symbol in the play, Jane Pfitsch holds her own fiercely confronting the bandage of men. From fragile flowery ingénue Beryl Stapleton to heart-searching business firm mistress at Baskerville manor, Pfitsch runs a gauntlet of characters that vary in every mode possible from 1 another. She spends a great deal of time playing the doting bong, Miss Stapleton, and succeeds in upholding her end of the mysterious plot twists throughout the performance.
Michael Glenn gets the distinctive honor of dabbling into the American emphasis section, specifically Texas. Glenn goes at his characters with gusto and vigor, the same amount given past his co-stars. His comic nature sidles easily along in his gait and his physical upright presence, regardless of which character he'southward embodying.
Our dear Watson (Lucas Hall) is a crafty fellow, but level-headed; a true doctor of sorts when it comes to solving mysteries. Hall is the epitome of the man that lives, still inadvertently, in Holmes' shadow. He delivers the expository and narrative elements of the plot with fervor and great ardor, but not in a melodramatic sense that would cheapen the writing. His 18-carat sense of reality basis his grapheme downwards to globe, making him reasonable merely excitable. Playing the man contrary the great Sherlock Holmes is no small task and Hall succeeds in this venture with the highest of marks.
Every bit for our dear Holmes (Gregory Wooddell) he is indeed as the books would have united states believe. Wooddell masterfully embodies a living book graphic symbol. The sheer madness which creeps into his persona just at the periphery is delicately counterbalanced against his genius. In that location is a perpetual pensivity burbling just backside Wooddell'due south eyes and every so often a peachy bolt of lightning comes bursting through them shocking his expression into something twisted and fiendishly clever. There is something in the way in which Wooddell speaks every bit Holmes that causes the character's visions to take shape earlier our very eyes, as if his words were transporting the audience into a visual experience of all his thoughts. Betwixt his condescending compliments directed at Watson, and his explosive moments of discovery, Wooddell has thoroughly mastered the portrayal of Sherlock Holmes. Cracking the case of how to practice one of literature's greatest detectives a thorough justice, Wooddell is aught short of dynamite in this role.
Infrequent story telling across the lath, a mystery to be solved, action, adventure, romance, and of class comedy; what isn't in that location to love about this brilliant new production! But waste material not time for fear you miss the train entirely and this marvelous theatrical wonder volition disappear among the mists of the moors.
Running Fourth dimension: Approximately two hours with one intermission
Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery plays through Feb 22 in the Kreeger Theater of Arena Phase at The Mead Center for American Theater— 1101 6thursday Street SW in Washington, DC. For tickets call the box office at (202) 488-3300 or purchase them online.
Source: http://www.theatrebloom.com/2015/01/review-baskerville-a-sherlock-holmes-mystery-at-arena-stage/
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