The Hound of the Baskervilles at Northern Stage

Published: 7 June 2019
Reporter: Peter Lathan

The Hound of the Baskervilles

Last year in January and February, as an addition to its NORTH programme for training young local actors, Northern Stage introduced a new strand, staging and touring a new production. That was The War of the Worlds, which was such a great success that it was revived in September.

This new strand will continue this year with a production of Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle’s classic Sherlock Holmes story The Hound of the Baskervilles in a new version for the stage by Scottish playwright Douglas Maxwell, running from 11 to 23 September at Northern Stage before touring. It will be directed by Jake Smith who was last at the venue as Associate Director on The Last Ship.

Born in the NE, he trained on the National Theatre Directors’ Programme and has held positions as Resident Director at the Almeida Theatre, Resident Director at Chichester Festival Theatre and Creative Learning Facilitator at Hull Truck Theatre. He is the current Artistic Director of the award-winning Petersfield Shakespeare Festival. His most recent work in the region was West End Girls in March at Live Theatre and Isolation at the Customs House last month.

“It's great to be home in the North East and directing The Hound of the Baskervilles with four talented North East actors shapeshifting through this supernatural thriller,” said Smith. “We’re doing Holmes in a way that’s never been done before—our Sherlock finds himself lost and unable to continue solving cases after losing his last.

“It's going to be a visceral theatrical thriller, blending movement, music and the power of storytelling to transport us to the Moor—the world we’re creating is rooted in its original Victorian setting but we’re hoping to shake off any dust. It's full of folklore, and the battle between the natural and the supernatural in an isolated environment makes for real tension and danger.”

The cast are:

  • James Gladdon (Sherlock Holmes, Soldier, Barrymore, Mr Stapleton) who graduated from BA Acting at ArtsEd where he finished his year playing Mr Parks in Roy Williams's This Is and has previously worked with director Jake Smith on Hamlet at Petersfield Shakespeare Festival and WormTown at The Customs House.
  • Rebecca Tebbett (Henry Baskerville, Miss Stapleton, Laura Lyons), a LAMDA graduate who was awarded the Laurence Olivier Bursary whilst training. Her recent theatre credits include Jane Eyre (The Watermill) and Fragment (Battersea Arts Centre).
  • Jake Wilson Craw (Dr Watson) who has been a NORTH participant since 2017.
  • Siobhan Stanley (Dr Mortimer, Mrs Barrymore, Mrs Franland) who graduated from Northumbria University in 2018 with a First Class Honours Degree in Performing Arts and has recently completed the Northern Stage's NORTH actor programme.

The set and costume design is by Amy Watts (West End Girls for Live Theatre / Elevator Festival), music and sound design is by Jeremy Bradfield (The Wonderful Wizard of Oz at Northern Stage) and lighting design is by Michael Morgan who regularly works with Northern Stage associate BalletLORENT.

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