Jack Studio Theatre – until 25 May 2024
Reviewed by Claire Roderick
4****
Luke Adamson’s atmospheric ghost story embraces the gothic gloom of Walter De La Mere’s story The Green Room and creates a spookily enthralling hour of drama.
Embracing the familiar verbose and sometimes florid style of the best English ghost stories, Thomas (Joseph Lindoe) narrates the memories of a fateful stormy night. Taking shelter from the storm in a deserted bookshop, Thomas’s comfort in being surrounded by books is soon disturbed as he realises that he may not be alone.
As Thomas attempts to communicate with the ghost, he is led to the mysterious green room hidden in the bookshop, and through a diary, thinks that he is beginning to understand why the girl is trapped there and wants to help, but must also find a way to escape himself.
Joseph Lindoe is a joy to watch as Thomas in a beautifully judged performance, wonderfully earnest and affable, but still arrogant enough to critique the writing of others even as he narrates this terrifying tale. Under Adamson’s direction, the monologue is never dull, as Lindoe draws the audience into the dark and mysterious bookshop by manoeuvring around imagined bookcases. JLA Productions’ lighting and Luke Adamson’s sound design effortlessly build the sense of space and the suspense as sounds emanate from different points around the stage. On a sunny May evening the show felt like we were huddled together around a fire on a dark, wintry night listening to ghost stories – superbly spinetingling.