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10A • August 10, 2018 | Cannon Beach Gazette | cannonbeachgazette.com ‘BASKERVILLE’ a melodramatic take on Sherlock Holmes Coaster Theatre actors (from left) David Sweeney, Slab Slabinski, Frank Jagodnik in ‘Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery.’ From left: Slab Slabinski, David Sweeney, Frank Jagodnik and Emily Dante star in ‘Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery’ at the Coaster Theatre. GEORGE VETTER PHOTOS/CANNON-BEACH.NET Sherlock Holmes (Frank Jagodnik), right, and his trusty assistant, Doctor Watson (David Sweeney). By Katherine Lacaze For Cannon Beach Gazette S ir Arthur Conan Doyle’s beloved crime-solving duo, Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson, will get a melodramatic makeover at the Coaster Theatre Play- house this summer in “Bask- erville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery,” running through Sat- urday, Sept. 1. “The whole play itself is a valentine to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s text, but also to theater itself, because there are a lot of theatrical devices audiences normally don’t see in modern theater,” said Director Jenni Tronier, who loves “a good mur- der-mystery” and directed Ag- atha Christie’s “Murder on the Nile” in 2015. “There is a lot of suspension of disbelief required on the part of the audience.” In writing the script, Amer- ican playwright Ken Ludwig closely followed Doyle’s orig- inal work, “The Hound of the Baskervilles.” What is needed to transform this literary clas- sic — brimming with action, adventure and dozens of in- teresting characters — into a stage production are theatrical, sometimes farcical devices: ab- surd props, breaking the fourth wall, quick changes into new costumes both on and offstage, and plenty of sound and light cues. The show’s small cast of Coaster Theatre veterans in- cludes Frank Jagodnik as Sher- lock Holmes, David Swee- ney as Doctor Watson, Slab Slabinski as Actor One, Ryan Hull as Actor Two and Emily Dante as Actress One. Under the guidance of Tronier, they have been given vastly different tasks: Jagod- nik and Sweeney must breathe new life and distinction into a famous duo already portrayed a dozen times over, while Slabinski, Hull and Dante must keep the audience up to speed on who’s who while coming on and offstage depicting a re- volving lineup of more than 35 supporting characters. The iconic duo To reincarnate Sherlock Holmes — who holds a Guin- ness World Records title for “Most Portrayed Literary Hu- man Character in Film & TV” — Jagodnik studied the man- nerisms and character choices made by well-known actors who depicted the iconic sleuth, but he is also relying on his own interpretation and instincts. “You have to go with what you have,” he said. “It’s you doing it, it’s your voice, it’s your body. You can’t be Jer- emy Brett, even though you want to be. You can’t be Basil Rathbone or Benedict Cumber- batch.” For Watson, Sweeney is focused on two watchwords: chronicler and observer. “Much of what I try to do is respond to what’s going on around me, more reactive than proactive,” he said. In “Baskerville,” Watson and Sherlock already have an established friendship and pro- fessional partnership, which is the heart of the show. “Their relationship is the key to everything they do,” Tronier said. “They’re yin and yang.” On his face, Sherlock is not a particularly endearing char- acter — he’s addicted to drugs and smoking, can be volatile and has sociopathic tendencies. Watson, however, “sees the humanity in him, he sees the brilliance, the mind,” Tronier said. Sherlock’s “wicked hab- its,” which are referred to in the play, help bring him down a notch. “Because Sherlock is flawed, he’s more relatable,” she said. “If he was just this Alaina Giguiere Owner/Principal Broker c: 503.440.3202 f: 877.812.1126 e: alainagiguiere@mac.com #1 in sales 2016 and 2017 Coastal Advantage CoastalAdvantage.com brilliant detective who was a nice guy, I don’t think people would like him as much, be- cause there wouldn’t be a relat- able aspect to him.” Jagodnik and Sweeney em- phasize the importance of artful- ly portraying the co-dependence and loyalty between the detec- tive and his sidekick, whose relationship has served as a tem- plate for other buddy cop duos for more than a century. Like a musical For the other three actors, the focus is breadth rather than depth. During the start of the rehearsal process, they indi- vidually met with Tronier to discuss each of their individual characters and conceptualize how that person would talk and move, or what idiosyncrasies could define them. “I encouraged them to ex- plore physically, as well as vo- cally,” Tronier said. While the costumes Judith Marty Giguiere Owner/Broker c: 503.440.7676 o: 503.436.1777 e: mr007@pacifier.com Broker c: 503.354.4072 e: susantone@nehalemtel.net Andrea Mace Hilary Herman Shelley Parker Broker c. 503-440-4024 e: Andrea.k.mace@remax.net Broker c: 503-791-4718 e: HilaryHerman@hotmail.com Broker c: 503-739-1977 e: Shelley.Parker@mail.com Cheryl Johnson Abbas Atwi Broker c: 503-739-1977 e: Cheryl.Johnson@remax.net Broker c: 503-310-8464 e: Abbas.atwi@remax.net Member of 2 MLS Systems Each office is independently owned & operated 163 E CHENA Susan Tone Broker c: 503.440.1648 e: egranebrown@gmail.com Broker c. 503.440.9280 e: maryanns@remax.net 219 N. Hemlock, Cannon Beach 503.436.1777 430 Laneda, Manzanita 503.368.1777 1868 PACIFIC Egrane Brown Maryann Sinkler 2 LOCATIONS TO SERVE YOU! /REMAXCoastalAdvantage Light has created for each character will help evoke and distinguish them, the onus is on the actors to endow each one with a different voice or accent, physical characteristic or other mannerisms. “There are a couple scenes where each of us are playing two different characters in the same scene and even speaking two lines back-to-back as dif- ferent characters,” Slabinski said. Some characters make a single appearance in a short scene; others weave their pres- ence throughout the show’s approximately 30 scenes. From an audience perspective, Dante said, “you really have no idea who’s going to pop out from behind the curtain.” Performances begin at 7:30 p.m. Visit coastertheatre.com for a full show and event calen- dar, or call the Coaster Theatre box office at 503-436-1242 for tickets. 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