THE ARTS ETC

Chester Theatre Company

presents

The Turn of the Screw

Adapted by Jeffrey Hatcher from

the novella by Henry James

DIRECTED BY DANIEL ELIHU KRAMER

August 3-14, 2011

Ghostly Intrique Enthralls

REVIEWED BY DONNA BAILEY-THOMPSON

Playwright Jeffrey Hatcher’s adaptation of Henry James’ THE TURN OF THE SCREW is a ghost story that doesn’t send shivers down the spine but instead challenges an attentive audience (like the kind who flock to Chester Theatre Company) to get inside the heads of everyone involved with the production.

There’s the Set Design. Why did Travis George shape the stage like a ship’s bow
that has only three doorways in its tall walls of weathered green louvers that narrow into a steeply angular prow capable of knifing through strong currents? (Why the nautical allusion?)

The play opens with a deceptively simple illusion that a cozy story is about to be told by a man sitting in a tufted chair that suggests the year is about the same as when James wrote the novella –1898. (Why was that particular chair selected?)

There’s an involved roster of live characters including the narrator, an uncle, housekeeper Mrs. Grose, and two young children, Flora and Miles (all portrayed convincingly by Justin Campbell) and the new governess (Allison McLemore) whose performance is a spellbinding tour de force.

Two characters are deceased: Miss Jessel, the former governess and Peter Quint, a valet, who are rumored to have had a love affair. For more than a century, speculation about their behavior has become a cottage industry of what ifs, including sexual aberrations. Psychoanalysis of the absentees, indeed all the characters, could be its own book. The diagnoses of the new governess include typical dated evaluations of adult females, none of them acceptable by today’s emancipated women and educated men.

As the living governess, actor Allison McLemore is smitten by the uncle when he interviews her for the job of caring for little Flora and her older brother Miles. McLemore begins her long, demanding role as a sheltered innocent, early twenties, eager to be the most competent governess ever. Maybe she fantasizes the uncle will visit and fall in love with her. When introduced to Flora, she drops to her knees, charmed by Flora’s beauty, gushing, “You are an angel!” with such joyful sincerity that we can visualize the child. She develops a growing competence as, in effect, the head of the household. She notices strangers – a man and a woman – moving about the grounds that no one pays attention to. Her emotional involvement with the children deepens. Her concerns for their wellbeing impact her energy. She develops the ferocity of a mama bear determined to protect her cubs. Her malleable girlish posture is replaced by a spine of steel. Before our eyes, the girl has become a woman resolute to the core.

Last summer, McLemore beguiled Chester audiences as May in the quartet that began with Last Train to Nibroc. She grew from young to middle age minus the assured bearing of this season’s dedicated governess. Her natural beauty and wide smile are reminiscent of Audrey Hepburn. She brings a presence to the stage that is a delight to behold – talent bolstered by intellect.

Director Daniel Elihu Kramer’s production reflects what surely entailed microscopic study of Hatcher’s script followed by surgical blocking. A reminder: there are only two actors on stage (The Man and The Woman); their choreographed movements are as purposeful as those of chess tournament rivals.

This meticulous attention to creating and sustaining a mood is honored by Jill Nagle’s Lighting Design and David Wiggall’s Sound Design. Actor Campbell’s alter egos – the narrator, uncle, housekeeper and Miles – are entities as distinguishable as if they were on stage in the flesh. It takes this interlocking village – including Arthur Oliver’s impeccable Costume Design – to provide an environment for Allison McLemore’s multi-dimensional governess.

THE TURN OF THE SCREW is performed without an intermission and followed by the increasingly popular TalkBacks with Artistic Director Byam Stevens.

The season’s finale (August 17-28) is WITTENBERG that Chester Theatre Company describes as “A Tragical-Comical-Historical in Two Acts” by David Davalos; Directed by Byam Stevens.

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© The Arts, etc., Copyright 2011

THE ARTS ETC

There’s the Set Design. Why did Travis George shape the stage like a ship’s bow that has only three doorways in its tall walls of weathered green louvers that narrow into a steeply angular prow capable of knifing through strong currents? (Why the nautical allusion?)

The play opens with a deceptively simple illusion that a cozy story is about to be told by a man sitting in a tufted chair that suggests the year is about the same as when James wrote the novella –1898. (Why was that particular chair selected?)

There’s an involved roster of live characters including the narrator, an uncle, housekeeper Mrs. Grose, and two young children, Flora and Miles (all portrayed convincingly by Justin Campbell) and the new governess (Allison McLemore) whose performance is a spellbinding tour de force.

THE TURN OF THE SCREW is performed without an intermission and followed by the increasingly popular TalkBacks with Artistic Director Byam Stevens.

The season’s finale (August 17-28) is WITTENBERG that Chester Theatre Company describes as “A Tragical-Comical-Historical in Two Acts” by David Davalos; Directed by Byam Stevens.

There’s the Set Design. Why did Travis George shape the stage like a ship’s bow
that has only three doorways in its tall walls of weathered green louvers that narrow into a steeply angular prow capable of knifing through strong currents? (Why the nautical allusion?)