The Hound of the Baskervilles, Torch Theatre Company’s autumn production will be Kevin Jenkins’ fifth design project for the Torch, having previously designed Private Lives, Beauty and the Beast, Jack and the Beanstalk and Rapunzel. He has designed numerous productions for Sir Alan Ayckbourn at the Stephen Joseph Theatre and returns to the Torch Theatre once again this year as chaos, clues, and canine capers collide in this riotously funny, fast-paced adaptation by John Canny and Stephen Nicolson - the moors will never, ever be the same!

The Hound of the Baskervilles will only have a cast of three actors – Jessica Dyas, Gareth John Bale and Rick Yale, who will play several characters. There will be an extraordinary number of locations on stages and both the set design and costumes have been quite a challenge for Kevin, but an exciting one at that.

“The starting point was really the tone of this adaptation balanced with iconic characters. It is also fast, playful and very funny, so the design needs to be able to shift location and mood very quickly without ever slowing the action down. The set and costumes have therefore developed together. There is a recognisably Victorian world underneath it all, but we are not being too precious about historical realism. Everything has to serve the comedy, the storytelling and, particularly, the speed of the piece,” explained Kevin who wants the transformations on stage to become part of the fun.

He added: “Because the actors are playing multiple characters, the costumes also have to do a lot of storytelling very quickly. A hat, a coat or one strong detail sometimes needs to tell the audience who somebody is almost instantly. So Holmes is recognisably Holmes, but he belongs specifically to this production rather than being an impersonation of somebody else’s Sherlock.”

Coming to Sherlock Holmes without being a devoted fan has given Kevin the freedom to approach the familiar world with a fresh eye.

Kevin said: “I’m actually not particularly a Sherlock Holmes fan, which may be a terrible thing to admit while designing The Hound of the Baskervilles! In some ways, though, I think that has been quite useful. Obviously I know the visual language we associate with Holmes, but I haven’t felt overly protective of it. I can look at what the audience needs to recognise and what we can play with. This version certainly isn’t interested in treating Sherlock Holmes as a museum piece.”

The backdrop of this production is inspired by the Dartmoor paintings of George Henry Jenkins. The moor gives the whole story its atmosphere with pastel colours and shades of green giving the audience a palette of earthy greens, browns, greys with highlights of heather giving the production a coherent world.

“Rather than trying to build a realistic Dartmoor landscape on stage, I wanted to use a large painted backdrop. While researching Victorian paintings of Dartmoor, I came across the work of George Henry Jenkins. His paintings are slightly later in period, but I loved his use of colour, light and atmosphere.

“I created the painting used in the set in response to his work, using it as a large scenic backdrop, an atmospheric, slightly ominous image that sits behind the action and helps establish the world of the moor.”

Without giving too much away, there’s a trap door, quick sand and a flying bed! Kevin didn’t want to let the cat out of the bag but did share some set secrets.

“I probably shouldn’t explain exactly how any of them work because half the pleasure is seeing them appear! What I can say is that we are very happily embracing old-fashioned stagecraft. There are things appearing, disappearing, moving and flying, and quite a lot of the fun comes from allowing the audience to see that they are watching theatre rather than trying to disguise every trick”.

Kevin concluded: “It’s a bit of a puzzle, but that is also one of the most enjoyable things about designing a show like this.”

The Hound of the Baskervilles can be seen on the Torch Theatre stage from Wednesday 7 October to Saturday 17 October with a BSL interpreted Performance on Tuesday 13 October. Tickets from £18. Phone the Box Office on 01646 695267 or visit torchtheatre.co.uk.