A ghost story that's as funny as it is spooky.
The Veil’s designer Rae Smith, and lighting designer Neil Austin are among the many strong forces driving this alluring ghost story to sure-fire box office success. Based in an ageing mansion, complete with mouldy windows and dirty mirrors, the set is given a compelling visual history and a murky one at that. The candlelit parlour of the night is just as enchanting in the bright light of day, and the quivering treetops above it just as spooky.
They work in harmony with writer and director Conor McPherson’s script, which is clever enough to pit its most intense characters against its funniest. The combination creates a kind of charm that overrides the niggling feeling that the plot meanders and swerves a bit too much. But then, don’t all ghost stories?
This particular one unravels at the Lambroke household where reluctant Hannah is about to be escorted to her fiance’s house by the ever-jovial Reverend Berkley and his often intoxicated friend Charles Audelle. Sensitive to the paranormal, Hannah is permanently unsettled. She hears screams and whispers while she plays eerie piano in the same room her father hung himself; and the presence of Audelle and Berkley only serve to stir up her paranoia.
While the reverend indulges in spontaneous séances that he calls prayer, things go bump in the night and tragedy strikes in a nearby town, putting strain on an unconvincing unrequited love between the hired help Mr Fingal and lady of the house Madeline Lambroke. So you see what I mean about the plot.
Regardless, there’s a satisfyingly traditional feel to this early nineteenth century story set in rural Ireland. More importantly, McPherson allows the funny reverend, the bizarre drunk and the frustrated manservant to lead the play as much as his more pent-up, ladylike characters whose tragic history fuels much of the drama. And that’s what makes The Veil so fantastically charming.
The Veil runs at Lyttleton Theatre until December 11th.
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