HAUNTING JULIA. To 20 September.
Scarborough/Newcastle-under-Lyme.
HAUNTING JULIA
by Alan Ayckbourn.
Stephen Joseph Theatre (the Round) in rep to 23 August.
Mon-Sat 7.30pm Mat 9,21 Aug 2.30pm.
then New Vic Theatre Newcastle-under-Lyme in rep 5-20 September 2008.
5,9,13,15 Sept. Mat 20 Sept 2.30pm.
Runs 1hr 50min No interval.
TICKETS: 01723 370541.
www.sjt.uk.com (Scarborough).
01782 717962.
www.newvictheatre.org.uk (Newcastle-under-Lyme).
Review: Timothy Ramsden 2 August.
Ayckbourn ‘s microscope on the family in an unusual style.
On its third Scarborough outing, in its third theatrical space (following the previous Stephen Joseph theatre and the McCarthy in the present building), Alan Ayckbourn’s play constitutes a distinct element of this year’s “Bump in the Night” summer.
The season might be called the Trapdoor Trilogy, for each play involves springing a surprise through someone appearing, disappearing, or not appearing through the floor.
If the parental behaviour behind Julia isn’t as extreme as in Snake in the Grass, also revived in this season, the consequences have been as terrible in the past and ricochet still on the Sunday afternoon, 12 years after her suicide, in the shrine her father Joe’s made to 19-year old composer Julia Lukin.
While para-normal phenomena are heard and seen, unnerving Joe, Ayckbourn craftily builds around them a two-act drama’s worth of family relationships. And it’s the home-truths Joe in particular learns that ultimately cut deeper than the shock-laden climax of the manifestations.
There are no deliberate villains. Even Ken, called in by Joe to use his psychic powers and make a link with the dead woman, is essentially amiable and well-intentioned, though he admits to some light deception. Julia’s ex-boyfriend Andy debunks the external effects but can’t evade complicity in the end of the troubled Julia.
Once again, the English language’s “-ing” form is helpfully ambiguous; this is a play about what haunted Julia when alive as well as the haunting she seems still to be doing. Joe is devastated when told Julia felt herself lonely, unable to see the destructive side of his devotion. Ian Hogg shows simultaneous power and vulnerability, his 12-years’ brooding grief now being shot through with moments of wild, uncomprehending hope. Hogg may be at a less ideal age for the role than he was in the 1994 premier, but it hardly matters.
Adrian McLoughlin earths matters finely as the chirpily mundane Ken. Ayckbourn might have reigned in a few moments of Richard Stacey’s emotional crisis, but this too is a strong performance overall, and director Richard Derrington, Ken in the 1999 revival, clearly understands this play’s method and purpose.
Joe: Ian Hogg.
Ken: Adrian McLoughlin.
Andy: Richard Stacey.
Director: Richard Derrington.
Designer: Pip Leckenby.
Lighting: Kath Geraghty.
Music: John Pattison.
2008-08-06 11:31:55