“The Hound of the Baskervilles” is on the Prowl in Santa Clara

“The Hound of the Baskervilles” prowls the Santa Clara Players (SCP) stage October 11 – 26, just ahead of Halloween spooks and spirits.

A “gigantic hellhound,” a supernatural creature part mastiff and part bloodhound, haunts the Baskerville family of Dartmoor in England. Roaming the moors, it is said to seek revenge for centuries-old family misdeeds. Did it just kill rich landowner Sir Charles Baskerville? Will young Sir Henry, heir to the manor, be next?

Sherlock Holmes, the world’s most famous detective, is called to the 21st-century Baskerville family estate to investigate the murder in “The Hound of the Baskervilles.”

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“We chose this play—part comedy and part thriller—for our 2024 -2025 season opening because it’s a lot of fun,” said Santa Clara Players Producer George Doeltz. “This is a Sherlock Holmes classic. It’s a variation on the story, bringing it up to date.”

“The audience will enjoy laughing one minute, being spooked the next and then leaning forward in their seats, intrigued by the mystery right afterwards,” said play director Patrick Idleman, a San Jose resident who starred solo in SCP’s “Fully Committed” last May.

Idleman said that it can be a daunting challenge to add one’s personal touches to such well-established material.

“There’s certainly a legacy to live up to which spans several different forms of media with regards to the character of Sherlock Holmes,” he said. “We have the boon of a built-in fan base ready to watch a classic and beloved literary figure in action, but with that advantage comes a certain expectation which must be met.”

Joel Butler from Fremont, whose first role with the Players was last February as a laconic woodsman in “A Bad Year for Tomatoes,” plays Sherlock Holmes.

“It’s incredibly fun and challenging,” said Butler. “You have all these great actors who have played the role. You want to do it justice, but you also want to make it distinctly your own.”

Prolific (more than 300 plays) American playwright Tim Kelly (1932 – 1998) adapted the 1901 classic Sherlock Holmes mystery novel “The Hound of the Baskervilles” by Arthur Conan Doyle for the stage in 1976.

Idleman said that scheduling rehearsal times that would fit the schedules of ten actors “sometimes felt miraculous.” And optimizing time with each actor was “a nightmare of spreadsheets better fit for an accountant to handle than a director.”

Keith Brown, a Bay Area native and Mountain View resident, is another of the ten. He debuts with SCP as Sir Henry and is an avid community theater proponent.

“I consider theatre and performing arts to be a major part of my life, even if they aren’t my career,” said Brown, a trained actor and former stage combat teacher.

“I’m just glad that local theater is still getting eyes on it! I want there to be arts and theater scenes, and it’s a struggle to keep things accessible to all,” continued Brown.

“This adaptation of ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’ provides a beautiful, interconnected web of relationships, which steadily reveals more and more of itself alongside Sherlock Holmes’ progression in solving the case,” said Idleman, a native Santa Claran with a BA degree in Theatre Arts from Santa Clara University

“It’s a thrilling and engaging story—beautifully crafted—that has stood the test of time for a reason, and there’s nothing quite like watching a good mystery unfold live before your very eyes,” continued Idleman.

Visit SCP online at www.scplayers.org or call (408) 248-7993 for tickets to “The Hound of the Baskervilles.” Performances are in the 71-seat Hall Pavilion (behind Santa Clara’s Triton Museum of Art), 1750 Don Ave. at Warburton Avenue.

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