Nottingham Theatre Royal until Wednesday 13th September 2023
Reviewed by Amy V Gathercole
3***
“Catch this ride whilst you can if you enjoy seeing a different kind of theatre”
True ghost stories are rarely seen on stage, mainly because it’s challenging to successfully create the appropriate eerie atmosphere. The Signalman is tasked with bringing a Victorian-era story to the stage, and the Rumpus Theatre company does it convincingly with some clever uses of stark lighting and minimalistic stagecraft.
Rumpus Theatre Company have adapted the Charles Dickens creation; it’s been adapted by John Goodrum, who also plays one of the lead roles.
The dark and eerie atmosphere created by the impressive lighting (designed by Keith Tuttle) is chilling and haunting throughout the performance. There’s a memorable and quite exciting opening to the play, with clever use of lighting, sound and smoke to recreate the environment of an operational railway line late at night.
The play is historical and was written by Charles Dickens, based on his own personal harrowing and tragic experience, when he was a passenger on a derailed train that killed ten people and badly wounded another forty.
The Signalman was first published by the Mugby Junction collection (a set of short stories published in 1866). It was part of a Christmas edition of All the Year Round, which was Dickens’ and some fellow writers’ annual selection of ghost stories.
A play with predominantly only two actors is always impressive; the amount of script that they have to remember and recall throughout ninety minutes is astounding. Both actors are convincing in their roles, convey mystery well and give good performances.
The Signalman of the title is John Standcot (John Goodrum), a man who seemingly leads a solitary life, who finds himself working as a signalman in Derbyshire in a remote and deep railway cutting. It’s mundane but important work, and he’s well suited to it.
A signalman had a critical job in the 1800s; they were responsible for the lives of multiple passengers several times a day. Mr Standcot works and often sleeps by an isolated tunnel where he sees what he believes to be ghosts and visions. He’s a troubled individual, running and hiding from a complicated past, and one night, a young stranger appears and asks to visit him in his small office.
The young man, Richard Brightman ( Pavan Maru), arrives surprisingly and asks if he can come and visit the railway box. He’s sensitive and worldly, an Oxford student and a gentleman of means. The question is, is he just a curious chap who wants to know more about how railways work?, or does he have his own, more personal agenda to visit Mr Standcot late one night?
As an audience, we are interestingly left with some moral quandaries to address as the play unfolds and the men’s histories are revealed. Is John seeing a real ghost? Is the spectre trying to warn him of some danger? Or is it all just in his own head? The show is worth catching to find out.
The actors and director (Karen Henson) are no strangers to the Theatre Royal. They all performed here in Nottingham a few months ago as part of the Colin McIntyre theatre group in the Nottingham Classic Thriller Season and will no doubt be back in 2024. Catch this ride whilst you can if you enjoy seeing a different kind of theatre.