Interview with Steven Clarke

Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson return to the stage in a riotous reimagining of one of Arthur Conan Doyle’s most celebrated detective stories. With three actors taking on fourteen characters, The Hound of the Baskervilles delivers a fast-paced combination of mystery, physical comedy and theatrical chaos, bringing a fresh and deliberately camp perspective to the much-loved classic. Produced by Bristol-founded Inner Voice Theatre Company, the production combines an enduring love of storytelling alongside bold theatrical invention. I caught up with director Steven Clarke, whose extensive career includes directing for the BBC, to discuss bringing this iconic mystery to life, founding a new theatre company, and finding the perfect balance between gripping detective fiction and laugh-out-loud comedy.

What first drew you to The Hound of the Baskervilles, and what made you feel this was the right story for Inner Voice Theatre Company to tackle?

I love a classic detective tale, and they don’t come more classic than The Hound of the Baskervilles. It’s 125 years this year since Conan Doyle first published what’s become his most famous and best-loved story. I was keen for the company to take on a literary classic that is exciting and plot-driven, but that also gave us the chance to use bold theatrical techniques and comedy to tell the story.

Sherlock Holmes is such an iconic character, and The Hound of the Baskervilles is probably one of the best-known Holmes stories. How do you approach adapting something audiences may already know so well while still making it feel fresh and surprising?

I think casting for this show has been absolutely vital. It takes special actors to play Holmes and Watson and make them truly distinctive, and I think that Robert Carden and Ezra Clarke really deliver. I’ve seen many Holmes/Watson shows and films, but I really feel that these actors bring something new and unique to the roles. Rob Carden’s ‘Holmes’ is wry and insouciant but also razor sharp and quick witted. Ezra Clarke’s Watson is full of energy and enthusiasm, but he is also vulnerable, and eager for affirmation. There’s also a bit of a playful ‘bromance’ bubbling under the on-stage relationship, which we’ve enjoyed playing with. And I do think that’s in sympathy with the original text.

This production has been described as a deliberately camp, fast-paced and comic take on the story. What was it about the original material that made you think it could work so brilliantly as a piece of theatrical chaos?

The plot of ‘Hound’ is very fast moving and breathlessly energetic. We’re in Baker Street, we’re in the London Steam Room, we’re on a train, we’re on Dartmoor, we’re in Baskerville Hall. The action moves at break-neck speed, a technique Conan Doyle loves. As a reader, it keeps you on the edge of your seat. We’ve translated that wonderful sense of kinetic energy to the stage. There’s a lot of comedy in the original text (Watson’s endless search for food for instance). And we’ve added a lot more comedy in the show, especially through clowning and physical theatre. The show is exuberant, with a camp quality that echoes the bromances that really exist in the text, between both Holmes and Watson and also between Watson and Sir Henry. We’re not trying to make any big statements about the relationships in the play – just have some fun that is appropriate to both the original text and time, and our own time.

Three actors playing fourteen characters is quite a theatrical challenge! How did you and the actors work out the different physicalities, voices and mannerisms needed to make each character instantly recognisable?

It’s super-demanding for each cast member to play so many characters. Especially Robert Carden, who plays all of: Holmes, Barrymore, Cecile and her husband Stapleton. Four very different and very demanding key roles. One of them female! Rob is a great mimic and comic actor, and dug deep to find 4 different voices, mannerisms and ways of moving to create 4 very different characterisations. This delivers both crystal-clear story-telling and high-comedy. Audiences love him racing off stage in a flowing dress as Cecile, then entering, magically, on the other side of stage, as Holmes! Ezra Clarke is almost always on stage as Watson, and plays only one other character – a West Country Yokel. He’s a Bristol boy, so it comes naturally. Gabe Willem delivers a brilliant, cranky, elderly ‘Dr Mortimer’, as well as the spritely Sir Henry, and 3 different ‘Yokels’, all ‘subtly different’ as he says on stage!

With fourteen characters being played by just three performers, timing must be crucial. How much of the rehearsal process was spent working on the choreography and mechanics of the comedy?

Timing is everything in comedy! A lot of rehearsal effort was spent on getting the details right. Much of the comedy is physical. From Holmes and Watson’s co-ordinated leg crosses and chest bumps to the sharp head turns and single lines in the Steam Room. Physical comedy needs a lot of work in the rehearsal room, repeating actions again and again til they become second nature for the actors. Verbal timing is vital too to get the maximum impact from comic dialogue and jokes. Facial reactions and ‘nods’ to the audience have huge impact too. The cast often improvise those reactions to suit each night’s crowd. We couldn’t do the multiple costume changes needed without our brilliant Costume Designer Abigail Manard, and equally brilliant Dresser Daisy Laing. Some costumes have to come off and others on in little more than 30 seconds. A dress and 3 Yokel ‘smocks’ that split at the back with Velcro fastenings, plus fast work back stage, are the only way it can be done!

You have an extensive background in television, including directing for the BBC, as well as experience in theatre. What does directing live theatre give you that television doesn’t, and conversely, what have you brought from television into the rehearsal room?

I wanted to re-ignite my theatre career because I missed two things. First, the intense creativity of the rehearsal room. The process of putting a play together with a talented cast over a few weeks is really inspiring. In TV you’re lucky if you rehearse for a few hours! Second, I missed the joy of live performance. The way a show (especially a comedy) is really influenced by and ‘created’ each night by an audience, and the feeling that we all have a shared, communal experience. I think that since Lockdown we all want and need that even more. But of course my TV past comes into the rehearsal room too. I think it’s given me a good sense of structure and discipline for rehearsal and production, and good instinct for when something is ‘right’ and it’s time to move on to the next scene.

You’ve worked with some incredibly well-known performers during your career. Has anything from those experiences particularly influenced the way you approach directing young actors today?

I’ve worked with a wide array of performers and practitioners, from Judy Dench to John Bishop to Professor David Olusoga! I think what I’ve learned from those experiences is to trust my own instincts and theirs! In a way, in TV, I’ve learnt that the first ‘take’ is often the best! You may need to re-take for technical reasons. But the first instinctive reaction by a performer to a line or a moment is usually the truest and most authentic one. So I try not to ‘impose’ my will or ideas. Rather, I train myself to look and listen, to really ‘tune in’ to the performer and maximise their truth.

You founded Inner Voice Theatre Company in Bristol in 2025 with Ezra Clarke, Robert Carden and Gabe Willem. What was the conversation that led to the company being created, and what did you want Inner Voice to offer that you felt was missing?

I knew that all 3 actors (one of them is my son!) were looking for opportunities to perform more. And I wanted to get a new company on its feet. I felt that a small but well managed theatre company could create dynamic, versatile work that could go anywhere. I feel that narrative-driven comic theatre is something audiences love, but there’s less of it on offer than there used to be. With musicals dominating at one end of the spectrum, and stand-up comedy at the other, I wanted to create a space for strong stories and characters telling classic stories but in an energetic, comical and theatrical way.

The company has a particular focus on creating opportunities for young, diverse actors and creatives across the West Country. How important was it for you that The Hound of the Baskervilles became a genuinely Bristol-born production rather than simply a show that happened to be made there?

I’m a Bristol boy, have lived there most of my life (and do so now), and the cast are all from Bristol too (except Indiana-born Gabe, though he’s now adopted Bristol as his new home!). Theatre’s always been at the heart of the city’s cultural life (Bristol Old Vic is the oldest continuously working theatre in the entire English-speaking world). So Bristol and the west country are very much our base. Somerset and Cornwall are actually quite ‘deprived’ economically, so we’re keen to be part of providing more theatre, and more work opportunities for actors and creatives, throughout the region. That’s not to say we’ll ignore other parts of the UK (we’re playing in London right now!), but the West is our spiritual home. We also want to make our company, and our shows, as welcoming and accessible as possible to the full diverse range of the whole community.

The production has already played to packed houses at Tobacco Factory Theatres. What did you learn from that first run that has changed or developed the production before bringing it to London?

We’ve finessed the show a lot, sharpening up the comedy and the lighting and sound. The London version is also shorter than the Bristol version. In London it’s a punchy 90 minuter with no interval, designed that way for the later ‘9pm’ slot at the King’s Head Theatre. In Bristol it was energetic. In London it truly bowls along! Audiences seem to be loving it.

Sherlock Holmes has been reinvented countless times across theatre, television and film. What do you think audiences still find so irresistible about Holmes and Watson, and what do you hope your version brings to that long theatrical history?

I think we Brits love our literary classics, and our detectives (think Morse, Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple). But Holmes remains the quintessential, eccentric, super-smart British detective. The stories – especially ‘Hound’ – are also brilliantly written and gripping. Holmes feels both modern and contemporary, but also somehow old fashioned and nostalgic for the charming, vanished world of the Edwardians, before the Great War.

Finally, if I’m sitting in the King’s Head Theatre watching The Hound of the Baskervilles, what would you want me to leave the theatre thinking or feeling?

Mainly we’d like you to feel gripped by the brilliant telling of a great detective story, to laugh your socks off at the verbal and physical comedy, and to connect with the characters, and with the rich vein of Britain’s literary past and love of narrative.

A huge thank you to Steven Clarke for taking the time to speak with me and share such wonderful thoughts on his approach to directing, the creation of Inner Voice Theatre Company, and the creative process driving this energetic reimagining of The Hound of the Baskervilles. It has been fascinating to see how the company has embraced the first story’s fast-moving narrative while adding physical comedy, inventive character transformations, and a distinctly playful theatrical style. I wish Steven and the entire team continued success with the production and their future work.