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Be prepared to be scared Haunting Julia Lichfield Garrick Studio
JULIA does her job splendidly sending a chill
around the audience in Alan Ayckbourn's celebrated ghost story which
relies as much on imagination as the minimal special effects to make
hairs rise on necks. Tragic teenager Julia was a child prodigy, Little Miss Mozart
as the red tops dubbed her, until she committed suicide at the age of
19.
Her overbearing father Joe (Christopher Timothy), has
turned her old student digs into the Julia Lukin Music Centre, an
uncomfortable mix of museum and arts centre with her bedroom the centre
point of what has become a shrine. Joe had never believed his daughter could have killed
herself, to him there had to be another explanation. So one Sunday
afternoon he takes Julia's ex-boyfriend Andy, (Dominic Hecht), to visit
the centre and then introduces what he hopes will be the key to the
truth, psychic mortuary attendant Ken (Richard O'Callaghan). To Joe this is a chance to find out what really
happened, to let Julia explain it to them through Ken, until that is Ken
proves to be a phoney, or then again maybe he's not. As the afternoon drifts on each character reveals a
different relationship with a different Julia and secrets about both her
life and ultimately her death. Timothy makes his Joe overpowering and unreasonable,
shouting down and prodding his finger at any argument or dissension, yet
here is a man, self-made and proud of it, who can change emotions at the
drop of a sentence. He is not the sort of bloke you can really like or
take to but you can find some sympathy for a man who cannot come to
terms with the death of a daughter. Hecht's music teacher ex-boyfriend is hardly the
loving son-in-law that was denied Joe by Julia's death. The pair have a common link with the past but are
hardly bosom buddies. Andy is aloof and distant and doesn't really want
to know what happened, perhaps because the only real secret is the one
he has been keeping and would prefer not to be revealed. He just wants to get
back to his wife Kay and two kids.
Then there is Ken and his psychic powers, not a
medium, a psychic he tells us. There is a difference. Ken is full of
homespun advice from his father and nuggets of what might even pass for
wisdom in some parts. While Joe wears his success despite his lack of
education as a badge of honour Ken accepts he is not as sophisticated or
educated as other people, even admitting Julia's classical pieces that
marked her out as a genius were not his family's sort of music. Three very different characters tied together by a
common thread exploring the web which surrounds them. In the intimacy of The Studio the audience is also
part of that web, sitting with Joe, Andy and Ken in Julia's bedroom so
that when they finally learn the truth you are in there for the white
knuckle ride with
them. Hitchcock's Psycho proved you needed very
little to scare people witless, just a suggestive script, some
believable acting, a bit of atmosphere and an audience with imagination and Haunting Julia
uses those same simple ground rules to considerable effect. A bright light, a bit of breeze, a
drop of blood and rely on the mind to fill in the gaps. Which it does
quite scarily, thank you. Not that it is all screams and ghosts mind. For those
used to Ayckbourn's comedies set in the middle class marriages of the
suburbs this all might come as a bit of a shock, but then again,
remember, that is what it is meant to do, not much use having a ghost
story that has them rolling in the aisles but he has not deserted
comedy entirely. Among the psychological delvings are some very funny
lines. The Lichfield Garrick Rep is getting quite a
reputation for its productions and this is the third directed by Andrew
Hall, who is co-producing this one with his own company Solomon Point. He was also responsible for Who's Afraid of
Virginia Woolf? and The Entertainer. Hall manages to keep things simple for the audience to
follow helped by a superb, strong cast who provide sharply contrasting
characters who all have a different view of the same event. The excellent
set is by John Brooking while Liz Porrett was responsible for the
effective lighting. Julia will be scaring until 30-10-10. Roger Clarke FEATURES: The play Andrew Hall Christopher Timothy
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