Set in the dark smoke-filled streets of old London town, Ghost Light leads the audience into a creepy world of spectres, hauntings and ageing Victorian-era gentlemen’s obsessions with the supernatural.
It follows newly joined member of the London Ghost Club, Henry Webster (Philip Holden—who also directs) as he is taken under the wing of old hand Edward Price (Nick Blessley) and led to take rooms in a haunted stair where the steps and voices of spectral children can be heard eerily singing and playing. And whilst the evidence of the ghostly children is plain enough, it soon becomes clear that their presence is not the only strange occurrence in the building.
Ghost Light is a very well crafted piece of modern writing harking back to an older era. Written by Ian Tucker-Bell, who also stars as the mysterious neighbour, John Henning, the tale clearly takes cues from Dickens, who is namechecked in the story, and builds a deepening mystery, which grows into a dark gothic horror. It’s a Victorian style of story but with a modern twist to some of its plotting.
The performances are well measured, with just enough movement and flourish to prevent it becoming staid. The piece also makes brilliantly careful use of props to showcase the supernatural elements without ever making them feel commonplace. Similarly, the dark, brooding aesthetic is helped immeasurably by the dark stage with the actors lit largely with handheld lanterns, the orange light flickering across their concerned faces.
But that, unfortunately, leads into one of the few quibbles with the piece. While the play is very darkly lit and swathed in blackout cloth, one side of the venue points directly at a very bright fire exit sign, meaning that those sitting there, such as this reviewer, spend half the play looking at backlit silhouettes. While fire safety is an absolute necessity, this does mean that audiences on that side are experiencing a far lesser version of the performance. This is also slightly exacerbated by much of the action of the play being quite pointedly directed at the front centre row, leaving those in the wings unable to see the actors huddling in conversation at various points.
As to the rest, the only complaint that could be levelled is that at a brief 50 minutes, the play feels short in the telling. There is so much in it that it would be quite enjoyable to have had that extra ten minutes or more to round out the story and the characters just a little further. While that might sound like grumbling, it’s rather the opposite, you will be left wishing for more, but perhaps that’s really just a fine excuse to go and see this ingenious tale of horror a second time.