With well over three dozen adaptations over the last century, spanning stage, radio, and screens both theatrical and television Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes novel, The Hound of the Baskervilles, would seem to have nothing new to give up in the 21st century. However, the Bleak December Players have found a way to strip the novel-length tale down to its essence, while losing none of the joie de vivre which makes the story so utterly timeless.

The tale which makes up The Hound of the Baskervilles is notable for many reasons, all of which are utilized to great effect in the Bleak December Players' adaptation. First and foremost, this is a story which primarily features Dr. John Watson, rather than Sherlock Holmes, for the better part of two-thirds of the novel. Thus, having Anthony D.P. Mann perform the role of Watson makes for a jolly good performance, given his crisp, clipped manner of speaking.

When contrasted with the stentorian delivery of noted Shakespearen actor Derek Jacobi in the role of Holmes, one finds the pair to be perfectly-suited in whom they play. While their interactions are not near what they might have been in an adaptation of something like A Study in Scarlet, they're all the more thrilling for the fact that this is Watson truly coming into his own, rather than merely functioning as the great detective's sounding board and scribe.

With that, onto the second notable aspect of The Hound of the Baskervilles: not only is Holmes absent for much of the story itself, so was Holmes absent in print for nearly a decade before Doyle brought him back in this tale, originally serialised in The Strand magazine. Thus, not only does the listener get the thrill of Holmes revealing himself late in the story, but they get to feel something akin to the frisson readers received nearly 120 years ago when Holmes reveals himself in a manner similar to the original novel, yet wholly unique to this telling.