The West End has too few funny shows for us not to treasure this offering from Peepolykus. Using the instant appeal of this old Sherlock Holmes story to crash their way from fringe to mainstream, the veteran outfit deliver a spoof that will brighten any hardworking Londoner's evening.
With a cast of three, this is theatre that never pretends to be anything else, revelling in the absurdity of every artifice. The clichés are milked. Owl hoots and dry ice conjure for us Dartmoor, the hound's lair. London, meanwhile, is a place of red velvet smoking jackets and matching velvet deerstalkers.
Quick costume changes on stage and off and ludicrous prop-work keep the story afloat. The actors blithely make "mistakes", trapping their clothes in doors or missing their sound-cues.
The performers manage to seem like they're blagging through, for ever winking to their delighted, complicit audience. Only the odd bit of magic makes you hold your breath: a performer insouciantly conjures something out of mid-air or effects an instant change of clothing.
As if to be absolutely clear that nothing should be taken seriously, Holmes is played with the most ridiculous of Spanish accents by Basque actor Javier Marzan.
John Nicholson's hilarious Dr Watson has all the comic dullness of the original plus a sweet, clownish naivete.
There can be too much knowingness. The actors come out of character for a "real-life" sub-plot which doesn't last the course of the show and seems contrived. A fast-forwarded repeat of the first half pleases the crowd, but feels very familiar.
In fact, there's little here that more intrepid theatregoers won't have seen before on the Fringe. The spectacular set-pieces of The 39 Steps, also in town at the moment, have upped the ante for this sort of Do-It-Yourself spoof.
But the laughs are here in force, along with a couple of genuine scares, and the cast have the edge on the Hitchcock show for sheer likeability. Indubitably a good night out.
Until 21 July (0870 040 0082, www.officiallondontheatre. co.uk).
The Hound Of The Baskervilles
Duchess Theatre
Catherine Street, WC2B 5LA
