Review: More Ghost Stories by Candlelight at the Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds
Review of More Ghost Stories by Candlelight by David Vass
It ’s over 200 years since the Theatre Royal in Bury St Edmunds first opened, and almost 20 years since it was restored to its Regency glory.
Illuminated only by candlelight, it required little imagination to dream up the ghosts of the actors that must have trod the boards in the intervening years, even before High Tide’s performance started.
More Ghost Stories by Candlelight featured Becky Barry and Sharan Phull, who passed the storytelling baton back and forth in an evening of tales that ranged from the chilling to the downright unsettling.
With its setting of Orford Ness, comparisons with MR James are inevitable, but I thought Tassa Deparis’ Lighthouse was closer in spirit to the unnerving, oblique stories of Robert Aickman. James McDermott’s Breath was the most straightforward and, therefore, the most accessible, allowing Becky Barry the elbow room to act out a visceral tale of guilt and grief.
Sharan Phull was similarly animated in the ghoulish She by Aisha Zia, a story that brought to mind the horrors of Amicus’ portmanteau films, while Eloise Pennycott's Lovers’ Gate was arguably the most satisfying, if only because it brought the two actors together, energising the stage with a heartbreaking tale of self-delusion.
Despite the contrasting narrative styles of four different authors, the performances were knitted together by taut direction from Emily Ling Williams, the sparing use of Anna Pool’s music, and Mona Camille’s simple, yet effective, set design.
The evening, as a whole, illustrated the important difference between stories designed to be told, and those meant to be read.
Neither prose nor play, there’s a unique alchemy involved in the writing and performing of such tales, something that High Tide appear to have completely mastered.
Flexing those skills in such an evocative setting made for a unique experience that sent its audience chattering nervously into the night.