SUNDRE – The Peak Theatre Players are bringing to the stage a classic murder mystery with a comedic twist.
The group will bring to life prominent comedic American playwright Ken Ludwig’s adaptation of Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Hound of the Baskerville.
“It’s a comedy thriller. I’ve never worked anything quite like it,” said director Brian Bailey.
The five-member cast has recently been rehearsing for upcoming performances that get started at the end of the month. While Bill Lough and Neil Embleton will be taking on and exclusively playing the lead roles of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson respectively, the three other members of the cast will each be taking on give or take a dozen roles each, said Bailey.
“There’s about 40 (characters) total, including Holmes and Watson, who are always Holmes and Watson,” he said.
“It’s the classic Hound of the Baskerville story, but it's done with an extremely light hand, and some of the characters are pretty extreme and fun to play and watch, we hope.”
The theatre group had prior to starting auditions considered more than a dozen scripts, keeping in mind factors such as whether they felt the story would be appealing to the audience as well as cast availability.
“We had a short list of about five shows that we liked and are interested in doing, some of them we've had on the back burner for a couple of years and some we just read,” he said.
“The appeal to this show is that it’s very different. It’s got a unique structure in that you’ve got about 40 people in the in the story, and it’s played by five people and it’s constructed that way,” he said.
“The people who are playing the non-Holmes and Watson characters, they’re extremely busy with character development and costuming and physical presentation,” he said.
The intrepid detective duo will have to muster up their wits to unravel the mystery and determine whether a wild hellhound prowls the moors of Devonshire or if something of another sinister nature might be afoot before a family curse dooms its newest heir.
“I think it’ll be an interesting challenge for the the audience to follow the story, which is a little convoluted, but it is essentially a murder mystery,” he said.
“We’re hoping to make it an enjoyable evening out.”
The first three performances are on the evenings of Nov. 29-30 with an afternoon show on Dec. 1 with the two finales taking to the stage on the evenings of Dec. 6-7.
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