Playing Sherlock Holmes in The Hound of the Baskervilles at the Devonshire Park Theatre, Eastbourne

SussexWorld

a cast of just three, Andrew Pollard takes the role of Sherlock Holmes as the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle classic The Hound of the Baskervilles hits the stage at the Devonshire Park Theatre, Eastbourne this summer (August 2-31).

Transcript

00:00Good afternoon, my name is Phil Hewitt, Group Art Editor at Sussex Newspapers. Now something

00:06really special is being hatched in Eastbourne this summer, running from the 1st of August to the 31st,

00:13it's the Hound of the Baskervilles at the Devonshire Park Theatre. Now what a pleasure

00:18to speak to Sherlock Holmes, aka Andrew Pollard. Now how do you approach Sherlock Holmes? Because

00:24we've all got our favourites, haven't we? We've all got our perceptions of what Sherlock Holmes

00:28should be and should do. How do you find your way into that character?

00:33Well I think often you, you know, you go with the scripts that you have, so that, you know,

00:39a particular writer will sort of tease out things. So you, especially in stage work, you

00:46kind of look at that first. Then I always do reading, you know, I always read around the subject

00:51and obviously read the story. And as a child, I loved the Basil Rathbone and Nigel Collins films.

01:00So I have that, which kind of helps in this, in this one, because we are slightly broader

01:05strokes because it is a comedy. And I think there was a lot more comedy teased out of

01:09those B pictures of the 30s and 40s, you know. But, you know, you also want to bring a little

01:15bit of depth to it. Well as you're saying, I think we're all influenced by the first Holmes

01:20that we saw and that happened to be Rathbone for you. What made Rathbone special, apart from

01:25being the first one you saw? I think it was, I mean, you know, it was slightly cartoony and it was,

01:32they were exciting films. You know, they were quite fast paced actually, because obviously those B

01:37movies are not very long. So tremendous pace to them. And just that thing as a kid, isn't it,

01:43you know, solving mysteries and crimes. You know, it's just an exciting sort of genre to, we all

01:50love, you know, somebody's been murdered, who did it, the old dark house or being on the Grimpen

01:55Mire, you know, with fog swirling, you know. And now here you are as Sherlock Holmes, but not just

02:02Sherlock Holmes, a few other characters as well. Yeah, I think I play, I haven't actually

02:07clocked it up, there's at least six characters I play, it's quite a lot. And that switching,

02:13how do you ensure that switching comes quickly enough? Well, I mean, it's all those things,

02:18a collaborative effort. There's a fantastic wardrobe team putting these things together.

02:22And, you know, already in the costume fittings, the conversation is how quickly can you get into

02:27this? How are you going to get into this? You know, which wig, what hat? So it is always a

02:31collective thing. And I'll come the show backstage, you know, my best friend will be the dresser,

02:39who's going to be helping me. I mean, I do panto as well and doing dame, and you're always jumping

02:45out of rocks. And you learn that there are two shows going on. There's the backstage show,

02:50and there's what's going on on stage. And it's as well choreographed backstage as it is on stage.

02:56Absolutely. So you have form in this, but the point is, as soon as you've got the wig,

03:00as soon as you've got the costume, that's a large part of the character then?

03:04It kind of is. But obviously, when you're rehearsing like this, you've got none of that.

03:08So for me, it is about what is the character, you know, you're trying to create physically,

03:14as well as vocally, something different every time, you know. So the costume undoubtedly helps

03:21and will undoubtedly help the audience. But as a me as a performer, I've got to find,

03:26you know, what those characters are. Fantastic. Well, I hope you have a fantastic

03:29summer as Sherlock, and lots of other people besides in the hands of the Baskervilles at

03:35the Dettinger Park Theatre in Eastbourne from August the 1st to the 31st. Lovely to speak to

03:40you. Thank you. You too.

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