If you’re looking for a silly escape from the troubles of the real world, delivered with comic panache, you’re barking up the right tree with “The Hound of the Baskervilles.”

It’s a revival of sorts for Orlando Shakes, which produced it eight years ago and bills it as “its most popular production.” But this show is no repeat. Artistic director Jim Helsinger once again directs with a finely tuned sense of pace and of how far to let the shenanigans go, but he has three different actors leading the merry mayhem: Orlando Shakes vets Philip Nolen and Timothy Williams, joined by new-to-the-theater Blake Croft.

Together, the trio relates Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s famed Sherlock Holmes mystery, here reimagined by Steven Canny and John Nicholson as a madcap farce. Mystery lovers, don’t fear: The story is nearly intact from the original, albeit with a bit of simplification. Holmes (Williams) and sidekick Dr. Watson (Nolan) are engaged to discover if a mythological beast killed Sir Charles Baskerville while they try to protect his heir, Sir Henry (Croft), from meeting the same grisly fate.

But the tale is told through the lens of a trio of harried actors presenting a play, a show-within-a-show, if you will. As the actors play multiple roles, the air is ripe with quick costume changes and assumed accents, adding to the fun.

Blake Croft and Philip Nolen yuk it up in the Orlando Shakes production of “The Hound of the Baskervilles.” (Courtesy Tony Firriolo via Orlando Shakes)

The show is a technical delight, starting with Steve Teneyck’s set, which is stylish while conveying the ramshackle nature of the show-within-the-show. Britt Sandusky’s sound design both complements and makes its own jokes. Lisa Zinna’s costumes add to the humor while allowing the actors to change character on a dime. Rob Siler’s lighting helps create the mood of mystery.

Yet the endeavor rests squarely on the shoulders of the actors, and this trio delivers magnificently.

A grinning Philip Nolen is amiable to the nth degree, as always-a-step-behind Watson. And he’s a pro at the physical comedy; you might be gasping for air yourself (from laughter) while watching him give CPR to a flopping-around lifesize dummy.

There’s comic chemistry in a romance between Sir Henry (Blake Croft) and Cecile (Timothy Williams) in the Orlando Shakes production of “The Hound of the Baskervilles.” (Courtesy Tony Firriolo via Orlando Shakes)

Croft, who you may have seen in Theatre South Playhouse’s “Puffs” or “Ride the Cyclone,” has an appealing bonhomie and adds silly little touches to his characterizations, such as overemphasizing the “wh” sound at the front of words — even when it’s not called for.

Williams has the widest variety of characters and scores in all of them. His wheedling accent as Stapleton — one of the mystery’s suspects — is inspired, as is his overdone fluttering as an exotic, mysterious and surprisingly Spanish love interest named Cecile. But his Sherlock takes the clue-filled cake: Clipped, condescending and blissfully unaware he’s in a comedy.

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With his deadpan delivery, Williams’ dry wit is at its driest in the role, as evidenced in exchanges such as this:

Watson: “He’s Canadian.”

Holmes: “I’m sorry.”

Watson: “I said he’s Canadian.”

Holmes: “I heard you. I’m just sorry.”

It’s all in the delivery, and Williams nails it.

Timothy Williams brings a delightfully dry wit and deadpan delivery to the role of Sherlock Holmes in the Orlando Shakes production of “The Hound of the Baskervilles.” (Courtesy Tony Firriolo via Orlando Shakes)

A special shoutout goes to the array of props that add to the general sense of silliness: Trays of colorful food, an oversized rainbow lollipop, a most unnatural beard. The visual laughs come as frequently as the aural ones.

This “Hound” goes right for the funny bone and never lets go.

Follow me at facebook.com/matthew.j.palm or email me at mpalm@orlandosentinel.com. Find more entertainment news and reviews at orlandosentinel.com/entertainment or sign up to receive our weekly emailed Entertainment newsletter.

‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’

Length: 2 hours, including intermission
Where: Goldman Theater at the Lowndes Shakespeare Center, 812 E. Rollins St. in Orlando
When: Through Nov. 2
Cost: $40 and up
Info: orlandoshakes.org

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2025/10/05/hound-of-the-baskervilles-orlando-shakes-review/