York Theatre Royal – until 1 June 2019
Reviewed by Marcus Richardson
4****
The Turn of the Screw was a short novella written in 1898 by Henry James. A chilling horror that follows ghosts of the past in Bly Manor, where a governess is given charge of two young children whose uncle wants nothing to do with them. However these children seem to be haunted by two ghosts who once had a secret relationship, could the governess be seeing things or are the children really dealing with malevolent spirits? Now this plot has been adapted to stage to bring the borrowing story of ghosts of ones own past that we want to forget.
The governess is a character bent on trying to save the children from these ghosts, played by Janet Dibley, who brings this character life with a somewhat naive presence around the house. Towards the end I enjoyed the character a lot more as her desperation to save the children became more and more manic. Flora is a woman who wants to ask the questions to the governess about her past and her first employment, turning out to be one of the children. ……… switched between different ages rather well and like Dibley is on stage pretty much all of the time, as a child we see her with so much energy and excitement and as an adult she is incredibly forceful and formed, the contrast here works really well to show how our childhood affects us. Elliot Burton played a fair few male characters such as Miles, Peter Quint and the children’s uncle. All of his characters are incredibly hard to watch and grotesque, which I both hated and loved every time he was one stage. I just hated to watch his character interact with the governess. To finish this cast of four, Maggie McCarthy plays Mrs Grose, the housekeeper, a neutral character who seems to be out of all the action yet sides with the governess on her fears. The character provides information on the children and the ghost, McCarthy does a good job of balancing and working with the energy of Dibley. I enjoyed the small cast and I felt that the actors did a good job with each character and the interactions on stage.
The set uses lighting as anyone would expect in a chilling horror with blackouts and use of dark lighting. With the mix of music and lighting the play created some eerie moments with the silhouettes of the ghosts at the back of the stage. I liked the design of the stage with a tilted proscenium arch with the stage, it reminded me of how our memories are distorted and how we each view the past.
I personally really liked the show however I can understand how it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, I enjoy being creeped out rather than a lot of jumps throughout. This isn’t something that’s scary, but instead chilling. I am finding it hard to close the review and who to recommend it to, as there isn’t a very clear target audience. I did read that the Woman in Black was inspired by this story, so hopefully that give you an idea of the show.