In 1865’s London, aspiring author Henry Webster befriends Edward Price at the local Ghost Club. The latter tells Henry about a real haunting at a nearby lodging-house, where the ghosts of two young children apparently wander the house in search of light… The two men decide to investigate.
Orange Works’ Ghost Light is a classic ghost story, being set in Victorian England, including candlelight wanderings, ghostly children’s chants and vengeful spirits. It even name-checks the most famous ghost-story writer of the era, Charles Dickens (well, at least for A Christmas Carol and The Signalman). This gives the production a somewhat predictable quality, though not entirety in a negative way: these tropes are classics for a reason, and the cast are good-storytellers, their voices being vital components since the production is almost entirely lit by lantern-light, in another bold move.
Unfortunately, they are let down by the handling of the malevolent paranormal entity, with an attempt at tying him into a pre-existing legend feeling forced and inconsequential, and his closing moment not having the desired effect due partly, and ironically, to ghost lights. Doing the Fringe is a gamble due to limited time in the performance space beforehand, and one feels that the production was expecting parts of the show to be entirely shrouded in a forgiving darkness which, thanks to significant light bleed from such things as fire exit signs, wasn’t the case, adding awkwardness to several scenes, mostly in the climax. One hopes some of this may be corrected for future performances, though the health and safety angle might place the onus on the blocking of the show rather than a more convenient light-switch.
Its cast and lanternlight staging add flavour to Ghost Light’s classic ghost theatre trappings, however these are not enough to elevate it beyond its tropes. The advertising asks “Why would a ghost be afraid of the dark?”. It’s an intriguing question, but fear is an irrational reaction which the villain and staging were better at evoking than provoking.
Ghost Light is running at the Space @ Niddrie Street until the 17th August (not 11th). Tickets can be found at: https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/ghost-light
Reviewer: Oliver Giggins
Reviewed: 5th August 2024
North West End UK Rating: