BCP take on “Monty Python inspired Sherlock Holmes” in three man show

Watch three actors take on the roles of 15 different characters in “The Hounds of Baskervilles,” a Sherlock Holmes mystery inspired by the style of Monty Python. The Bigfork Community Players unveil the show for its final weekend run on Friday.

Early in the 20th century, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote the third of his four Sherlock Holmes mysteries, “The Hound of the Baskervilles.” Considered by many to be the best of the series, it was honored by the BBC as being one of the 100 most influential books in Britain. Then a three-person comedy company often compared to the Marx Brothers and Monty Python, commissioned Steven Canny and John Nicholson to write a stage version. That effort turned the story on its end.

That version of “Holmes” was bound to make its way to BCP Director Michele Shapero sooner or later. She said she’s always wanted to do a Sherlock Holmes mystery, but because the Players are a community theater group and perform in the off-season, it’s difficult to find male actors. She said most plays involving the famed fictional detective have large casts that are mostly played by men. It was when she found a spin on the classic detective story that she knew she had found the BCP’s perfect match.

“I must have read four or five different Sherlock Holmes mysteries and I came across this particular script, which was adapted by a British writing team Steven Canny and John Nicholson for a three man comedy troupe called “Peepolykus,” or “people like us.” …They adapted it for these three guys, which allowed them to play all 15 characters. As soon as I read it and watched some videos of the production online, I went ‘we can do this, I have three guys that I know I can get to sign onto this thing and that’s all I need,’” Shapero said.

Those three guys are BCP board member Dave Vale, and longtime BCP actors Ethan Waltman and Scott Roskam. Shapero said she ran the script by Vale, who also loved it and after that it was “fated.” Many members of the BCP are spread across the valley, making it hard to meet often. She said she sent a script of the play to Waltman, who lives in Whitefish, and Roskam, who lives in Yellow Bay, and within a day they were chomping at the bit to take it on.

“I’m not sure if we were sucked into it or suckered into it. There was a lot of fun, but we didn’t have any idea how complex it was,” Dave Vale said.

They didn’t make any adaptations to the script, but the show lends itself to improve in many places, making no show completely identical to the last.

“It’s supposed to be a scripted play that looks like part of it is improvised. But, when these actors get wound up, there’s rarely a performance where they don’t do something unexpected,” Shapero said.

One thing the audience can expect is many, many costume changes. Shapero spends her time backstage during the show, helping Ethan Waltman in and out of costume. Waltman starts out as Holmes, but takes on a lot of the heavy lifting when it comes to switching characters: he plays seven out of 15 of them.

“It’s overwhelmingly exhausting. In other shows if you are a character and you have a number of other co-actors, you have a chance to go behind some set somewhere and go over some lines or something as you get ready to come out on stage. In this one you have very little of that, it’s just about enough time to get changed and about enough time to get mentally ready to rush out as a different person each time, almost,” Waltman said.

Roskam plays Sir Henry Baskerville, who sports a pretty funny accent.

“I guess Sir Henry is of pretty high standing in England. But he’s spent most of his life in Canada and looks and speaks like a Scot. Probably because he can’t manage a Canadian accent,’ Roskam said.

Waltman said this is his fourth show with the BCP. He said had never acted on stage before joining the Players. He is a life-long film lover, watching his dad’s favorite westerns when he was young. He said these John Wayne movies had a lot of quotable lines that he and his family would recite often.

“So I grew up quoting lots of movie lines, I loved movies and was fascinated by the way they were made, I was always good at, what do they call it? Hamming it up? I was always very good at that,” Waltman said.

He said working with the BCP is a great experience and recommends it to anyone looking to “cross an item off their bucket list.” He said it pushes people out of their comfort zone and allows you to make great friends along the way. He said most people aren’t aware of how much work goes into community theater and that this show has been a challenging, but fun experience.

“Do you like Sherlock Holmes and mysteries? Do you like Monty Python? Do you like watching three people trying to play 15 characters over the course of a couple of hours? If you like all of those things and you like comedy, this is probably the perfect fit, because this is crazy, insane and not like any Sherlock Holmes you’ve ever seen,” Waltman said.

In addition to playing Dr. Watson, Vale plays one of the actors as himself, the de facto leader of the three actors begins the play with a little aside: “It seemed like a good idea at the time,” he says in character. “A cast of just three actors. But I didn’t anticipate that before the killer was uncovered, my cranky colleagues would be trying to kill each other. How that turns out is still a mystery.”

Watch “The Hound of the Baskervilles” on Friday April 29, at the Bigfork Center for the Performing Arts starting at 7:30 p.m. on both Friday and Saturday. The Sunday matinee showing starts at 2 p.m. Tickets are available at the Pocketstone Cafe, Bigfork Drug, at the door, and online at bigforkcommunityplayers.com. Anyone interested in joining the Bigfork Community Players can reach Michele Shapero at 406-407-5748.