Edward Alderton Theatre

Classic Ghost Stories for Christmas
by M R James and Charles Dickens

Adapted and directed by Mark Campbell

22-29 November 2008 (7 performances)

Three spine-chilling Victorian ghost tales brought vividly to life on the Alderton stage...

The Mezzotint by M R James
A mysterious old engraving seems to spell doom for the inhabitants of a secluded manor house...
Cast
Narrator	Tony Donnelly
Williams	Daniel Cox
Garwood	Ian Long
Nesbitt	Paul Harris
Filcher	David Hampton

The Signalman by Charles Dickens
An elderly railway worker keeps seeing a waving figure standing at the entrance to a train tunnel...
Cast
Narrator	Tony Donnelly
Traveller	Ian Long
Signalman	David Hampton
Man	Daniel Cox
Tom	Paul Harris

Oh, Whistle and I'll Come to You, My Lad
by M R James

An old whistle unearthed on a windswept beach leads to a visitation from a terrifying presence...
Cast
Narrator	Tony Donnelly
Parkins	Paul Harris
Philips	Daniel Cox
Vinnels	Ian Long
Housekeeper	Shirley Andrews

Crew
Stage Manager	Yvonne Golding
Assistant Stage Manager	Linda Gay
Set Design	Mark Campbell
Set Construction	John Vinnels, Ron Andrews
Set Painting & Sheet Hanging	Mark Campbell
Properties & Backstage	Geraldine Mullins
Sound Design & Operation	Rebecca Mason
Lighting Design	Mark Campbell
Lighting Rigging	Jerry McKeon, Christine McKeon, Ian Long, Juliette Long, Michael Smith
Lighting Operation	Sarah O'Hanlon

With thanks to Erith Playhouse for costumes and decor, Royal Blackheath Golf Club for golfing equipment, and Peter Bennett for special lighting effects. Music by John Debney.

Preview

Bexleyheath's Edward Alderton Theatre presents Classic Ghost Stories for Christmas

Edward Alderton Theatre’s Mark Campbell is dreaming of a fright Christmas, writes Kerry Ann Eustice. The director talks about his staging Classic Ghost Stories for Christmas and why, as director, he chose the spooky trilogy featuring in the show.

"I deliberately chose Victorian ghost stories for this Edward Alderton Theatre (EAT) production as it seems to be a very traditional festive thing to do," says Campbell. "It’s both cosy and creepy. I suppose Dickens’ A Christmas Carol is the most famous example of a supernatural story inextricably linked with all the trappings of Christmas. And we're going to serve mulled wine and mince pies every evening, so that will help get people into the mood.

"Each story has a narrator, played by Tony Donnelly, sitting to one side and reading from a large book of ghost stories, while the actors act out the events on a minimally furnished stage. We have period costumes and authentic-looking props, but I'm not going for strict realism - I want the audience to be drawn in and use the power of their own imagination, aided be lighting, sound effects and excellent performances, which of course can be far more scary than actually seeing an actor just dressed up as a ghost."

The Mezzotint
"This is a nice, creepy story about a picture which seems to change whenever you look at it. It seems to show a sinister shrouded figure creeping towards a mansion house at night - but it only moves when no-one’s looking. I thought this would be a great one to start the evening, as it requires the audience to use its imagination - you never see the picture itself - and it contains similar elements as two of my favourite TV series: Sapphire and Steel, in which a faceless entity exists inside photographs, and the recent Doctor Who story about weeping angels which move if you so much as blink."

The Signalman
"Probably Charles Dickens' most famous short story about a lonely and, frankly, rather weird old signalman who believes a figure standing at the entrance to his railway tunnel is warning him of some future tragedy. We up the stakes here a bit with some wonderfully moody lighting and sound effects, suggesting a dank, underground railway cutting and the glowing red warning light at the entrance to the tunnel. EAT veteran David Hampton plays the signalman and he is brilliant."

Oh Whistle and I’ll Come to You, My Lad
"Made famous as a BBC play in the late 1960s with Michael Horden, directed by Jonathan Miller. It's the story of a cynical university professor who finds an old whistle on a windswept Norfolk beach and when he blows into it, he summons something very sinister indeed. This is the most involved of the three stories and requires a couple of swift scene changes and some quite complicated lighting and sound effects to create the impression of a desolate wintry beach. And I promise you that the climax will make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up."

Classic Ghost Stories for Christmas at the Edward Alderton Theatre, 5 Brampton Road, Bexleyheath. Nov 22 to Nov 29. 020 8301 5584.

Kerry Ann Eustice

News Shopper | 19 November 2008

Review

Chilling tales served up with mulled wine

Audience members at Bexleyheath’s Edward Alderton Theatre (EAT) were almost deprived of this season’s pre-Christmas entertainment when their planned November offering, the powerful and chilling Irish drama, The Weir, fell through, writes Paul Johnson. With the added pressure of successfully following last year’s popular Yuletide smash, the Christmas Variety Show, artistic director Mark Campbell needed to act fast. Putting into action a longstanding plan to adapt and present a bill of Victorian ghost stories, he took on the arduous task of turning four famous transcripts into stage dramas – no mean feat.

After much tweaking, cutting, rewriting, casting and re-casting, EAT’s 2008-9 season was back on track offering an evening of three (RIP story number four) chilling tales – oh, and plenty of mulled wine, I’m happy to add.The final trio of creepy tales Campbell decided to haunt Bexleyheath’s faithful with were: The Mezzotint and Oh, Whistle and I’ll Come to You, My Lad by M R James separated by Charles Dickens’ famous chiller, The Signalman.

Tony Donnelly, to the side of the stage and overseeing the proceedings, made a perfect Roald Dahl-style host-come-narrator complete with lamplight, smoking jacket, leather-studded wing-chair, dusty storybook and an irresistible voice that would have had little trouble selling ‘Mr. Kipling’s Exceedingly Good Cakes’ (or mince pies, for that matter). The rest of the evening’s acting detail was neatly shared out between five other performers: Daniel Cox, Ian Long, Paul Harris, David Hampton and Shirley Andrews. Campbell’s adaptations were nicely rounded, each story providing four roles for EAT’s November repertory troop.

Unfortunately, it was evident the cast had only been in rehearsals for three weeks due to the hasty manner in which the production was assembled, and I felt an extra fortnight of preparation would have made a huge difference. However, the magnetic nature of the ghostly plots kept the audience adequately enthralled, aided by Campbell’s effective lighting and set design. Rebecca Mason’s clever sound design also successfully managed to keep the atmosphere at a consistently eerie level.

Paul Johnson

Kentish Times | 11 December 2008

Feedback

I read in the programme that..."there's something about telling ghost stories at Christmas that just seems so right". That is a perception that I do not share, to be frank, and I am generally as resistant to ghost stories as to science fiction. [But] the show strikes me as an artistic success. The originality of the format is mildly disconcerting at first - a radio play with visuals - but one grows accustomed to it. The adaptations work, the radio play is well done, and the visuals are pretty effective.

It has not converted me to ghost stories, of course. The Mezzotint - purely as a story - did not satisfy me at all. I was expecting there to be more to it and consequently ended up wanting to exclaim, "Well? And?" I would have reacted in the same way to Oh, Whistle... had I not adjusted my expectations by then.

David Hampton gives a strong performance as the signalman, I think. I remember seeing him in other roles, but this one suits him much the best. He has the requisite air of simplicity. I also think that the ghost in the last story is surprisingly effective. The idea of someone running about the stage dressed in a sheet, waving his arms, sounds pitifully laughable, but it doesn't come across that way at all (surely some kind of triumph in itself). I also enjoyed the accents.

If I were inclined to criticize - and, as a matter of temperament, I suppose I am - I would point to a certain lack of variety in the evening. I realise that you were aiming at a considerable degree of minimalism, and this style generally works well here. I would, however, have liked some sharper distinction between the stories, however artificial. Maybe you were deliberately seeking to impose unity, but, if so, I think you went a bit too far. The show seems to me more like a single play that doesn't really cohere than three separate playlets. Maybe the simplest (and cheapest) way to break up the (to my mind excessive) uniformity of mood would have been to engage a different narrator for at least one of the parts. This is no criticism of Tony Donnelly. Rather the reverse: his narration seems to me the single most powerful component of the production in determining the general tone and atmosphere. That, however, is precisely why I would have liked some other voice in the middle story, purely for the sake of contrast, in order to leave even the least attentive member of the audience in no doubt that it was a different story.

Jason Tomes

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