Review: Baskervillen koira

Devonshire Moor remains fascinating

Although the dense fog of the Devonshire moor repeats itself from one performance interpretation to the next, even in The Hound of the Baskervilles, there is not just one Sherlock Holmes or just one Dr. Watson. There are already so many variations, adaptations and interpretations of both characters that Arthur Conan Doyle’s original text is in turmoil in the viewer’s mind.

Therein lies its power: new approaches drill into Sherlock’s world in such a way that surprising and refreshing angles are revealed. Formalism would kill you, repeating the old would be exhausting.

Although the American Ken Ludwig is also known in Finland for several of his plays, Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery (2015) has remained in the dark. It may be that the reason is the thorough familiarity with Conan Doyle’s work; theatres may have estimated that there are no more perspectives on Sherlock that interest the audience.

Helsinki City Theatre’s Finnish-language premiere tells a different story. The Hound of the Baskervilles is portrayed on the Arena stage in a way that lacks any stereotype of the Holmes tradition. From start to finish, the performance pulsates with a peculiar irony that spares neither the legendary detective duo nor the increasingly colourful supporting characters.

The Hound of the Baskervilles is realised at the Helsinki City Theatre through lightning-fast role changes and extremely exaggerated typification. Only Santeri Kinnunen’s Sherlock Holmes and Eppu Salminen’s Dr. Watson represent traditional realism, although even they are edgy and anything but serious; All the supporting characters surrounding them are constructed as hilarious caricatures, capricious triumphs of mimicry and gestures.

For example, we get to the opera, the suitably comic opera classic Falstaff, we see a strange telegraph scene, we meet the underlings of the Baskerville mansion and other villagers, we follow the pursuit of frequent-flying butterflies. In addition to the two main characters, we meet as many as 35 other characters, excellently described by Emilia Sinisalo, Mikko Virtanen and Seppo Suonpää.

Katariina Kirjavainen’s set design works handily on the small Arena stage. The great work has been done by costume designer Elina Vättö and camouflage designer Aino Hyttinen, whose solutions perfectly match the light and rough basic tones of Sakari Hokkanen’s intensive direction. There is both a hefty dose of epoch and quite a few details in which the epoch is ironic.

Ludwig’s dramatisation in Swedish will be seen at Åbo Svenska Teater in the spring 2022 season.