Having never witnessed a ghost story played out on the live stage, my visit to see Rumpus Theatre Company’s adaptation of Wilkie Collins’ spine-chilling tale at the Devonshire Park Theatre is seriously new ground and, as the lights dim and the curtain rises, I breathe deeply.
The stage is quite spartan, with just a wrought iron bench for scenery. On the bench is Stephen Rayburn, played by Mark Homer, who begins to narrate this tale of the events that are unfolding in Victorian London.
He tells us of a woman, who we later learn is Mrs Amy Zant, that he first sees in Kensington Gardens, hiding among the trees and acting very strangely. He goes on to explain how he begins to talk with her but, due to her strange behaviour, worries about her mental wellbeing.
Mrs Zant is played by Terri Dwyer and, together with Homer, they play out the entire story as a two-hander. This helps to focus on the characters and storyline, and the disembodied voices of the other characters in the tale really ramp up the fear factor.
Millie Henson is the young and innocent voice of Lucy Rayburn, the daughter of Stephen who has been a widower since his wife, Lucy’s Mother, killed herself. Susan Earnshaw supplies a wonderful characterisation of Mrs Zant’s creepy landlady while John Goodrum is even creepier as John Zant, Amy Zant’s brother.
The final voices are those of Karen Henson as Mr Zant’s Housekeeper and Daniel Gilbrook as the boy who brings some terrible news to Mr Rayburn one day in Kensington Gardens…
Homer and Dwyer are both superb in their roles, delivering their lines with strength and clarity throughout the increasingly terrifying tale. Dwyer continues to act in the most bizarre ways with Homer desperately trying to make some sense of her actions, although it is obvious that her behaviour leaves him bewildered and frustrated at times.
It would, of course, be churlish of me to reveal the details of the plot and the outcome of the tale, but I can say that the last 10 minutes of the piece do put all the pieces back together very neatly and answer so many of the questions that were being asked during the interval.
With just the almost bare stage, it is left to some clever lighting effects to create the illusion of the park, a seaside town and even the rooms of several houses but, without any scenery to distract the senses, concentration falls on the cleverly written words of one of the Victorian era’s most successful writers and, judging by the totally silent auditorium, I wasn’t the only one totally focussed on this superbly crafted piece.
**** Four Stars