Morgan Lloyd Malcolm’s The Turn of the Screw, based on the novella by Henry James, Blackeyed Theatre and Arcola Theatre, Dalton Junction, London | until 10 October ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Review by Clare Colvin

Photo credit: Alex Brenner.

Morgan Lloyd Malcolm’s The Turn of the Screw

based on the novella by Henry James

Blackeyed Theatre and Arcola Theatre, Dalton Junction, London | until 10 October

⭐⭐⭐⭐ Review by Clare Colvin

“Shocks and psychological mystery in spooky new take on classic.”

Henry James’s famous gothic novella The Turn of the Screw has been puzzling readers, and later theatre, film and opera-goers ever since it was published in 1898.   The question arises whether to call it a ghost story when at the same time the Governess at the centre of the haunting is seen as insane.  That was my view when reviewing Benjamin Britten’s opera at the Coliseum, in 2024 where, according to the director’s interpretation, not only was the Governess mad, but she had been locked up in a psychiatric hospital for the past 30 years, and the events at Bly were seen through her fevered recollections.

The latest rendition of Henry James’s teaser comes in the form of a straight play by Morgan Lloyd Malcolm, and the most significant point of all is that the tale is shaped by the exigencies of real life - to have two child actors appearing night after night on stage for a run is not viable for a touring company, so director Nicky Allpress’s method of suggesting you may have seen the ghosts when you had only assumed so, is a very neat way of getting round the difficulty.

There are plenty of sound effects to haunt without the sound of music, and these consist either of loud, sudden shocks, blackouts at the start, and rushing noises as of the wind.  The gabled Victorian style phantom of Bly Manor is seen in the background of double-glazed screens and bare trees, and you strain to catch the lurking shadows.

The actors playing the haunted children are both excellent in catching the schizophrenic subtlety of the double roles, so the Governess can never be sure whether she’s protecting the children from danger, with Toby Benyon as both young Miles and arrogant Quint, valet to the absentee Master, and Kathleen McAuley-Irvine playing sister Flora and the previous Governess Miss Jessel who drowned herself in the lake.   Amy Tara, as the new inexperienced young Governess, has the onerous task of trying to avoid a similar fate, especially when, unlike the original tale, the children’s Absentee Guardian, played by Jim Fish, arrives unexpectedly.

In the end, whether the ghosts were real, or the Governess was mad, doesn’t really matter, so much as if we can be spooked.  The case for the ghosts remains as appealing as ever, and what we have here, is a enjoyable evening of shock and psychological mystery.

Writer: Morgan Lloyd Malcolm

Director: Nicky Allpress

Set and Costume Designer: Matthew Cassar

Sound Designer: Hattie North

Lighting Designer: Oliver McNally