Ghost Light
A troupe of performers arrive at the remote Riverside Lodge to rehearse “the Scottish play,” the cast experienced but some of them superstitious as is the nature of those who make their lives in the theatre, fearful of the supposed curse attached to the text and their emotions always close to the surface, throwing themselves into new roles and sometimes each other’s beds with the same initial enthusiasm and later regret.
Alex Pankhurst beginning to embody the role of the ambitious lord who wishes to be king, his wife Liz Beth Stevens plays Lady Macbeth but like that character plots the downfall of the figurehead, enlisting lover Thomas Ingram to arrange his disposal and his own elevation from the role of Banquo, while Madeline Styne has doubts over her role as the Third Witch and director Henry Asquith attempts to assert control over the unruly ensemble of Shakesperean Wheels.
Directed by John Stimpson from a script co-written with Geoffrey Taylor leaning somewhat heavily on the established work of one William Shakespeare, the Ghost Light flickers on the creaking wooden stage for Tom Riley, Shannyn Sossamon, Cary Elwes and Carol Kane as Thomas, Liz Beth, Alex and Madeline, coughing on the dust and finding that remembering their lines is the least of their worries.
Ed Grenga’s soundtrack playing the larfs to make it absolutely clear that this is not serious drama, while aspects of the ghostly and strange creep in with Liz Beth’s increasingly “method” performance, convinced her bloody hands can never be cleaned, the inexplicable assault on Alex while he is running lines on stage alone and Tom’s persistent nightmares, they are stage dressing rather than genuine atmosphere, the bickering and relationships predictable even to those who don’t know the story.
Henry (Roger Bart) the most sensible and grounded, accustomed to the eccentricities of actors and what must be done to keep them on side and functional despite the anxieties and insecurities they manifest in place of the habits of the well-adjusted adults they sometimes masquerade as, even he begins to crumble as phantoms step on stage to perform scenes rehearsed with suddenly absent performers, struggling backstage with misplaced costumes.
The power struggles and betrayals of Macbeth transferred to a theatre company performing the play an obvious spin, Ghost Light entertains but never stretches itself or surprises, ticking the boxes of witches, floating daggers and the spectre at the feast but with too much running around the limited backstage it has nowhere to go and tends towards comedy rather than tragedy, the cast deserving better than what amounts to a matinee performance for the cheap seats.
Ghost Light is streaming on the Arrow platform now
