Director Carmel Carroll has gone back to basics, and in doing so has managed to heighten the senses of an audience. One almost feels like those first readers when the Victorian novella was published, using our imaginations to paint out the story.

The ambiguity of the original story is whether the ghosts are indeed of another world or merely figments of the Governess’s imagination. Who, indeed, is the mad one here?

Carmel Carroll uses her talent on her stellar cast in such a way that an answer to the ambiguity is not at all evident. Occasionally the ghosts stand not in view of the living characters yet are ‘seen’, mostly by the Governess.   If intentional, it’s a device that works well and brings us into both their worlds. Yes we can see the spirits but if we can see them over there, are the living really seeing them when they look elsewhere? 

Cameron Barclay and Rachel Day give chilling performances as ghosts Peter Quint and Miss Jessel, both instilling their roles with just the right amount of ‘creep’. Their Act 2 opener is dark and full of menace. 

Emma Sloman is stand out as the Governess, moving between genuine concern for the children in her care and teetering on the edge herself. She is ably supported by Mary Newman-Pound as distraught housekeeper Mrs Grose, presenting us with a warm motherly creature. 

Tizane McEvoy as Flora and Thomas White as Miles both show a flair for stage presence and each have their own show stealing scene, Tizane by the lake and Thomas in the final scene. It’s nice to see them hold their own on a bare stage with nothing but the story and an assured directors hand to guide them. 

Rosemary Barnes playing Britten’s score on a grand piano deserves high praise indeed, a feat that was surely the recipient of the majority of the applause and foot stamping on the night. 

Overall an excellent telling of a classic musical piece and a triumph of theatrical story-telling over expensive special effects.

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In reviewing both productions of The Turn of the Screw that have been presented at this years Fringe Festival it’s hard not to draw comparisons. To see two very different genres of the same story in the same week was a treat and I wonder how many others took advantage of it. Seeing one I believe helped me appreciate the other more. 

Both have more than their fair share of chills and came to each production from very different backgrounds. Whilst the Opera Factory was more conventional in origin, Benjamin Henson at The Basement came to the project decidedly from left field. It’s refreshing to see that a hundred year old story can have life breathed into it from different sides of the same equation and I would hazard a bet that if the same audience attended both productions they would have enjoyed both equally as well.

Neither production relied on set or flamboyant wardrobe, allowing their respective scripts do the majority of the work. Lighting proved hugely effective in both providing atmosphere and mood and so praise indeed should be handed out to Janet Kirwan, (The Basement) and John Eaglen, (Opera Factory).

Whereas music was the basis for the Newmarket production, puppetry was a major factor in the city, and both shows were privileged with a director that not only wanted to put the story on stage but to increase its power and effect. Both achieved that and again praise must go to their respective cast and companies.