Who let the dog out?

It would be easy to call B Street Theatre's The Hound of the Baskervilles a dog. But it isn't. It's just that this irreverent makeover of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's most famous Sherlock Holmes mystery is madcap and slapstick and rife with the kind of bad beards, strange accents and quick costume changes that may seem fresh only if you haven't seen such previous B Street shows as The Big Bang and The 39 Steps.

It's amusing but never quite the tour de force farce it strives to be.

When Sir Charles Baskerville is found dead on the moor, his face frozen in fright and giant paw prints near his body, detective Sherlock Holmes (Jason Kuykendall) and his astute “assistant” Dr. Watson (Greg Alexander) are called to solve the mystery that involves an ancient family curse, an apparent hellhound and a deranged killer. The situation becomes more urgent when Sir Charles' nephew and only known heir, Sir Henry Baskerville (John Lamb), arrives to claim the family home.

Written by John Nicholson and Steven Canny for the British comedy troupe Peepolykus (pronounced “people like us”), the comedy premiered in 2007. It is designed to be performed by three male actors, each of whom plays himself, one of the three Baskervilles lead roles and a bunch of other cracked characters. Buck Busfield directs with the right frantic pacing, and his cast of B Street regulars works feverishly to deliver the silliness the script calls for.