Holmes mystery ‘Hound’ finds funny bone

By Louise Kennedy, Globe Staff  |  July 27, 2010 From boston.com

CAMBRIDGE — The game is afoot, and what a game it is: a two-act romp through “The Hound of the Baskervilles,’’ adapted with surprising fidelity, except that it’s all played for laughs. Who knows if Sir Arthur Conan Doyle would have approved, but good-humored devotees of his most famous creation, Sherlock Holmes, surely will.

Steven Canny and John Nicholson’s spoofy adaptation played to acclaim and applause at Shakespeare & Company in Lenox last fall, and now Thomas Derrah has mounted a new production at Central Square Theater. He’s enlisted his longtime American Repertory Theater comrade Remo Airaldi to play Holmes — physically an odd choice, especially when the lean and saturnine Bill Mootos is right there next to him onstage, playing . . . Dr. Watson? Wouldn’t it have been logical to switch these two parts?

But the casting makes more sense once you see that the actor playing Holmes is also called upon to impersonate a pompous and portentous butler, the butler’s buxom wife, the mysterious Peruvian lepidopterist Stapleton, and, most unforgettably, Stapleton’s screeching, tangoing “sister.’’ Airaldi’s clownish physicality and simpering mien are spot-on for all these parts — especially that sister, with her long braids and swirling lace fans.

Mootos, meanwhile, acquits himself admirably as the less-than-perspicacious Watson, with sure comic timing and a particular gift for displaying astonished innocence. The two veterans are joined onstage by a talented rising senior at Boston Conservatory, Trent Mills, who dives with aplomb into the roles of a Dartmoor peasant, a hysterical actor, and a whole fistful of Baskervilles.

Much of the fun comes from watching these three pros dash nimbly from role to role, ripping off Mallory Frers’s appropriate costumes midflight and throwing on a beard or wig. The conceit is that they’re members of a small-potatoes traveling theatrical troupe — a conceit that’s enhanced by Carlos Aguilar’s deliberately two-dimensional set, complete with rotating panels and flat plywood “boulders.’’ And the script adds a nice layer to the basic story by having the itinerant actors grow increasingly spooked by the uncanny tale they’re performing — and by the sinister events that seem to be taking place both onstage and in the wings.

Amid all the tomfoolery, the sendup does manage to tell the whole story of the original “Hound,’’ so that even those unfamiliar with the plot should have no trouble following along. That makes it a particularly good way for Holmesians to ease their children into the joys of fandom — though my own son, already ensnared by regular bedtime reading of the novels and short stories, took a different and equally keen pleasure from appreciating the affectionate parody of a well-loved tale.

Nathan Leigh’s spooky-silly music adds another lively element to the fun, as does Steven McIntosh’s lighting design, complete with old-time spotlights and delightfully shadowy footlights. Derrah’s direction nicely underscores the theatricality of the script, giving us the double pleasure of watching an amusing Sherlock Holmes story and appreciating the deliberate staginess of its presentation. It’s not just a joke; it’s a smart joke, and one that both children and adults can enjoy.

This is the first production staged under the Central Square Theater Leadership program, which aims to provide professional development opportunities for students and other young artists on the production staff. Alison R. Klejna, who joined the theater as a graduate student a few years back and is serving as artistic director for this show, is one such artist, and she’s included a number of her peers in the production.

It’s a smart move by Central Square — usually the shared home of the Nora Theatre Company and Underground Railway Theater — to help develop new talent in this way. And presenting such a fun, family-friendly program this summer is another good sign that Central Square Theater will continue to build a sense of community among artists and audience members alike.

Louise Kennedy can be reached at kennedy@globe.com.