Seacoast Rep Embraces the Spooky Season with THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES

Mystery on the moors becomes comedy on the seacoast, as the Seacoast Repertory Theatre enters the spooky season with Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery, a farce based on the Arthur Conan Doyle classic novel "The Hound of the Baskervilles."

The play on opens at the Rep on Oct. 19. It features women playing Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson and three other actors in a dizzying array of characters who unspool hilarity along with the mystery of a ghoulish family curse.

Baskerville also marks the debut production of Jamie Bradley in his new role as interim artistic director of the Seacoast Rep.

"Comedies always help when the weather turns bleak," Bradley said of the autumn production. "It's good to get away, good to get a laugh."

The farcical humor in Baskerville is driven by the supporting cast's manic on-stage character changes, giving it a play-within-a-play feel. "The zaniness is in the three actors, sometimes every other line they are different characters, different accents," Bradley said.

"It's going to give you a feel like you're backstage at the theater, watching someone tell the story," Bradley said.

"Baskerville" was written by Ken Ludwig, the Tony-winning author of Lend Me a Tenor and Crazy For You; it debuted in 2015 at the Arena Stage in Washington, DC. It is based on Doyle's story of murder on the moors of Devonshire, England. An heir to the Baskerville line has died, a family curse and a legendary diabolical hound are feared, and Holmes and Watson arrive to help. More than three dozen other characters complicate the search for a solution.

Kelley Davies plays the role of Sherlock. Dr. Watson is played by Rebecca Schneebaum.

"They were right for the roles," Bradley said of the decision to cast the two women actors as male characters. "In this Portsmouth area, that's accepted," he said.

Kelley said the gender-bending casting is a fun, additional challenge. "Sherlock is such a distinct character," she said. "It's been such a joy to do my own take on some of his iconic habits. And it's a joy to play it from a female perspective, to throw in little comments here and there."

Kelley is a 2017 Emerson College graduate, now living in New York. She starred previously at the Rep as Esmerelda in February's musical production of The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

Bradley was promoted to interim artistic director in September after performing and working at the Rep since 2006, most recently as operations manager and associate artistic director. He said he welcomes the opportunity to bring a fresh set of eyes to one of the theater's top jobs. "It's a brand-new challenge, not just for me, but for the theater and our audiences," he said.

Bradley has staged comedies at the Rep as a director, responsible for locally-written plays Background Check and As Time Goes By, as well as last year's production of Neil Simon's Laughter on the 23rd Floor.

He said he hopes to offer more comedy like Baskerville, in a mix with challenging plays that get people talking. He also anticipates an emphasis on artistic collaboration in the future. "Storytelling, teamwork, collaboration. I don't feel that one person should do all the work. That's how the story gets passed on," Bradley said.

Baskerville: a Sherlock Holmes Mystery, runs October 19-28. Show times are Thursdays at 7:30, Fridays at 8 pm, Saturdays at 2 pm and 8 pm, and Sundays at 2 pm. Tickets are available through the Seacoast Rep box office at 603-433-4472, or online at www.seacoastrep.org/tickets. For student discounts, call the box office. The Seacoast Repertory Theatre's 2018 season is sponsored in part by Bondgarden Farms, Portsmouth Public Media, MacEdge and the Sheraton Portsmouth Harborside Hotel.

Design by Ben Bagley