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Stars explained: * A production of no real merit
with failings in all areas. ** A production showing evidence of not
enough time or effort, or even talent, and which never breathes any real
life into the piece – or a show lumbered with a terrible script. *** A
good enjoyable show which might have some small flaws but has largely
achieved what it set out to do.**** An excellent show which shows a
great deal of work and stage craft with no noticeable or major
flaws.***** A four star show which has found that extra bit of magic
which lifts theatre to another plane. |
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Shivers of fright in the gloom
Terror by candlelight: Samantha Holden as Florence Kennedy and Jon Richardson as Gabriel Stokes Darker Shores Hall Green Little Theatre **** I SUSPECT that Sea House, up on the
cliffs near Hastings, will not be getting many high ratings on
TripAdvisor. It has dodgy electrics, candles that blow out at will, a
whole army of ghostly things that go bump in the night and a décor that
could best be described as muted funereal gothic. Michael Punter's Darker Shores, a Midland's
premiere for the 2009 play incidentally, takes gloomy to new heights and
cleverly uses a single set, divided up by lighting, designed by Heather
Alexander, to mix past and present as scenes flow into each other
without a pause. Ghost stories are not that common in the modern
theatre partly because they could demand difficult special effects but
the best special effect of all is the mind and director Edward James
Stokes manages with very little in the way of special effects apart from
flickering lights, ethereal noises and darkness to create some very
frightening moments, particularly in the first act. The closing of a
door creates a particularly universal shiver among the audience. The story is simple Dawrin denier Natural
Scientist Gabriel Stokes – whose take on evolution is that if we are
all descended from apes why has a chimpanzee not given birth to a human
– lost his wife and son ten years ago. So as Christmas 1875 approaches Stokes (obviously
no relation to the director) who has taken rooms at creepy Sea House to
write his masterpiece debunking Darwin, finds the house seems to have
more guests than are on the register – particularly in the attic, so
engages ex-US Civil War veteran and deserter , and now spiritual;list,
Tom Beauregard to get the the bottom, or even top, of the mystery.
Stokes, sympathetically played by Jon Richardson,
now a HGLT regular, is a humourless, religious man who has a somewhat
literal view of the bible and religion and Richardson gives him a nice
touch of pomposity Simon Dykes' Beauregard is a more flamboyant
character. At first we are not sure if he really does have any psychic
powers or is just a good West Virginia carpet bagger and Dykes keeps us
guessing with an accent that hardly falters from beginning to end. While
Stokes his hiaunted by the ghosts of his dead wife and son, Beauregard
is haunted by the civil war dead.. Housekeeper Agnes Hinchcliffe, played with
bustling efficiency by Ros Davies, is looking after the house because
the master has vanished while in India and hopes one day to turn it into
a hotel. At least that is the tale she tells us at the start but come
the second act and we find she has a terrible secret. The only staff still left is Florence Kennedy,
played beautifully by Samantha Holden, who has her own secrets,
including her little boy Caleb, who she secretly brings in to stay the
night sometimes - but why is Mrs Hinchcliffe so set against having the
boy in the house? And why does she clean everything with Hyssop? All will be revealed in the second act when
secrets are revealed, truths told and all manner of funny goings on
manifest themselves amid the smoke from under the bed and flashing
lights. To reveal more would spoil the plot. Strangely the second act did not hold the same
terror as the first partly because large chunks of dialogue lost the
battle with special effects of noises and voice distortion in a séance
that was on the verge of drifting into melodrama. The French windows at the rear of the
well-designed set, by Stokes again, would also have benefitted from
non-reflective glass or film to eliminate reflection of stage lights, But there were enough clever twists and turns in
the plot, carried by an excellent cast, to keep interest up to the end
in what was an entertaining – and at times scary evening which had the
audience jumping right on cue. Roger Clarke |
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