Between the Pages

This production by Middle Ground Theatre Company, features two short, spooky plays.  Both plays star Jack Shepherd and Terrence Hardiman in the main roles, with a small supporting cast.  In ‘Whistle and I’ll Come To You My Lad’ based on a short story by M R James, Shepherd plays Professor Parkins, a somewhat stuffy academic, who is stopping a small hotel on the East Coast, for a golfing holiday.  He finds an old whistle at a graveyard of the Templar Saints, and while showing it to a fellow guest, he blows it and a huge gale starts.  Parkins is sceptical about the existence of ghosts, but is soon driven to terror by whatever malevolent force he appears to have summoned up with the whistle.

The play was very enjoyable, with some unexpected moments of humour.  I wouldn’t describe it as an out-and-out horror, but it was spine-tingling, and had one moment of complete shock, which certainly made me (and those sitting around me) jump!  The performances by Shepherd and Hardiman (as the fellow guest) were excellent, and Dicken Ashworth was also on form as the hotel owner.

The second play, ‘The Signalman’ was based on a short story by Charles Dickens (not one I’d heard of, but one I’d like to read).  Shepherd is the titular character, an isolated signalman who is responsible for a who is haunted by an apparition which seems to warn him of an impending disaster on the lonely stretch of railway for which he is responsible.  As he explains to a traveller who he befriends (Hardiman), he has seen the ghost twice before, and after each sighting, there was a disaster on a train travelling on the line.  The traveller attempts to allay his fears, and believes that the signalman is hallucinating, but is there something in what the signalman says?

Although I enjoyed Whistle and I’ll Come To You My Lad very much, I think this was my favourite of the two plays.  The conversation between the two characters felt spontaneous and unscripted – and for most of the play, it WAS just these two characters talking – indeed Shepherd was on stage throughout – so there was a fair bit of dialogue, and it was performed seamlessly.  Again, it was not a horror story, but it was the kind of story that plays on your mind and keeps you thinking about it afterward.

The sound effects for both plays – especially the gales in the first play – added to the eerie atmosphere, and the acting was top-notch.  I also loved the simple but effective sets.  An excellent production in every sense, and well worth seeing.

(For more information about Middle Ground Theatre Company, or this production, please click here.)