The Hound of the Baskervilles

Clive Francis, Arthur Conan Doyle

• Publisher: Oberon Books
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN: 9781849434119
• eBook ISBN: 9781849438889
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: British Drama
• Index: Literature

A bloodcurdling howl is heard across a cold, moonlit moor; the spectral hound has claimed another victim. Sherlock Holmes, the world famous detective of Baker Street, and the ever-reliable Watson are called upon to investigate the legendary plague of Baskerville Manor. This modern adaptation of the hound on the moor was commissioned by Nottingham and Salisbury Playhouses and Clive worked alongside Tim Bird (who created an ingenious projection design) and the director Richard Baron. Subsequent to this initial production, this adaptation has just completed its third UK tour in seven years.

ACT ONE

PROLOGUE

Strange distorted violin music pounds to the rhythm of a clattering typewriter as all four WATSONS sit around the stage writing their journals in notebooks. WATSON 2 sits centre in the tall back armchair, the typewriter before him. NOTE: The armchair will be used throughout, representing a multitude of different things.

WATSON 2: I will this night render my body and soul –

Music builds to the sound of a weird low howl and a screech of crows.
A girl in great distress is heard running and screaming.

WATSON 2: – body and soul to the Powers of Evil

Typewriter clatters on as the music and sound climaxes and then with ugly precision winds down to the normality of Baker Street.

SCENE ONE. 221B, BAKER STREET

The room is cheerfully furnished. Shafts of early morning sunlight reflect hazily through tall windows.

WATSON 3: Dr. John Watson, found himself once again on the untidy first floor room of 221B, Baker Street

WATSON 2: The starting point for so many remarkable adventures.

WATSON 1: Seven years earlier this dependable, intelligent man had been stationed out in Afghanistan (All WATSONS jump to attention.) with the 5^th Northumberland fusiliers.

WATSON 4: A terrific bunch of lads.

WATSON 3: Where he not only survived heavy combat but also the crippling effects of typhoid and malaria

WATSON 2: But several cases of clostridium botulinum.

WATSON 1: (With a flourish.) Sausage poisoning.

WATSON 4: And as a result was shipped home to England where the guiding influence upon his life was to change quite dramatically

WATSON 3: Due to the extraordinary companionship of one man.

HOLMES: Mr. Sherlock (Placing a deerstalker on his head.) Holmes.

WATSON 4: Mr. Holmes is rather over six feet in height

The three WATSONS help him into his long dressing gown.

WATSON 3: And so excessively lean that he seems to be considerably taller.

WATSON 2: His eyes are sharp and piercing

HOLMES: And together with his thin hawk-like nose

WATSON 4: It gives him an expressive air of alertness and decision.

WATSON 3: Mr. Holmes is not only blessed with the virtuosity of a violinist.

WATSON 2: But also that of a boxer

HOLMES: A singlestick player

WATSON 4: A swordsman

WATSON 3: With a profound knowledge of chemistry, botany

WATSON 2: And sensational literature.

HOLMES: Which I absolutely adore. (Hurls his papers in the air.)

WATSON 2: He is also the untidiest man to ever set foot in Baker Street.

HOLMES sits in his chair holding his pipe.

WATSON 4: For when I find someone who keeps his criminal records in the butter dish

WATSON 2: His cigars in the coal scuttle

WATSON 3: His tobacco pouch in the toe end of a Persian slipper

WATSON 2: His unanswered correspondence pierced to the mantelpiece

WATSON 4: By means of a carving-knife

WATSON 3: Then I begin to give myself virtuous airs.

WATSON 4: Though working as he does for the love of his art

WATSON 3: Rather than for the requirement of wealth

WATSON 2: He refuses to associate himself with any investigation that does not tend towards the unusual

The WATSONS begin clearing the clutter and storing them away.

HOLMES: Even the fantastic. I live for brainwork. What else is there to live for? My mind, rebels at stagnation. Give me problems, give me work, give me the most abstruse cryptogram, or the most intricate analysis, and then I can easily dispense with artificial stimulants of an addictive nature. I crave for mental exaltation. That is why I have chosen my own particular profession, or rather created it, for I am, as far as I know, the only unofficial detective in the world.

SCENE TWO. BAKER STREET. DR. MORTIMER

WATSON 4: It was overcast.

WATSON 3: It was dreary.

WATSON 2: It was February.

WATSON 3: And gas lamps glowed like hazy smears through a dense and palpable fog.

WATSON 4: So dense that it seemed to engulf the very city and create the illusion of night.

WATSON 2: Yet breakfast still remained untouched upon the dinning table.

WATSON 3: Water dripped

WATSON 2: Incessantly

WATSON 4: And along the gleaming street

WATSON 2: Came the muffled sounds of carriages.

ALL WATSONS: A slow monotonous rumble.

Lights change.

HOLMES stands up stage looking out, a plume of blue smoke drifting from his cigarette. Next to him on a small table lies a tray containing cups and saucers and a silver tea-pot. WATSONS remain downstage examining a walking stick. Silence.

HOLMES: (Without turning round.) What do you make of it, Watson?

WATSON 3: My dear, Holmes, how did you know what I was doing?

WATSON 2: I sometimes believe you have eyes in the back of your head.

HOLMES: Hardly, but I do have, at least, a well-polished, silver-plated tea-pot in front of me. (Drops his cigarette into a cup.) So, what do you make of it?

The three WATSONS examine the stick

WATSON 3: I would say

WATSON 2: Following the best I could the methods of my companion

WATSON 3: That it’s a fine, thick piece of wood

WATSON 2: Almost bulbous-headed

WATSON 4: With a broad silver band nearly an inch across engraved with the inscription,

WATSON 3: ‘To James Mortimer, from his friends of the C.C.H.’

HOLMES: Indeed, but what do you make of it?

WATSON 3: Well, I think that Dr. Mortimer is a highly successful

WATSON 2: Possibly elderly

WATSON 3: Possibly elderly, country practitioner

WATSON 4: Who does a great deal of his visiting on foot.

HOLMES: Good! Excellent! (Beat.) Why?

ALL WATSONS: Why?

HOLMES: Yes, why?

WATSON 2: Because this stick has been so knocked about that I can hardly imagine a town practitioner carrying it.

WATSON 4: One has only to observe the wear and tear of the ferrule to be convinced of that.

WATSON 3: This implement has accompanied Dr. Mortimer on many a long walk.

HOLMES: Perfectly sound and highly observant.

WATSON 4: And then again, there are the ‘friends ...

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Half-title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Cast
• The Hound – A Creeper of an Idea
• ACT ONE
• ACT TWO
• BY THE SAME AUTHOR