Riding Mill Baskerville play to feature giant wolf puppet
Riding Mill Drama Club has chosen Ken Ludwig’s play, Baskerville, for their March production, to kick off their 75th anniversary celebrations.
The play is an adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's novel, The Hound of the Baskervilles, and features a cast of five playing over 40 characters.
However, the club faced a challenge in finding the hound that stalks the play.
Molly Agar, from Ninebanks, West Allendale, came to the rescue with a larger-than-life solution.
Ms Agar, who graduated from the Liverpool Institute for the Performing Arts with a bachelor's degree in theatre and performance design in 2024, has a particular interest in puppetry.
She said: "I especially wanted to focus on big puppets and bring their magic to the North."
Her biggest puppet, inspired by the legend of the Allendale Wolf, is set to take a starring role alongside Sherlock Holmes, Watson, and the rest of the cast in Riding Mill.
Ms Agar said: "We learned about the Allendale wolf at middle school and it really grabbed my imagination – it escaped from a private zoo, ended up on the fells around Allendale killing sheep, but was never caught despite a reward being offered for its capture or killing."
Her puppet, which requires two people to operate, stands at over a metre high.
It has shoulders and a backplate made from parts of an old kayak, ribs and a backbone made from tent poles covered in bale wrap, and eyes that smoulder an eerie red.
Ms Agar said: "Its first outing was at the Allen Valleys Folk Festival in September 2024 with my sister operating it from inside and me moving the head.
"It got an amazing reaction as it walked around the village square – although some of the dogs seemed unsure what they were seeing."
Two members of the drama club are now being taught how to operate it.
Liesl Allcock, the play's director, said: "Finding Molly and her wolf has been the answer to my dreams.
"She’s a delight to work with and we all love her enthusiasm and creative ideas.
"We are so lucky, as an amateur group, to have this opportunity to work with some seriously professional theatre puppets.
"I know they’ll bring a real dash of theatre magic to our Riding Mill audiences this spring."