Archives - April 1996

THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE
by Shirley Jackson, adapted for the stage by F. Andrew Leslie

Produced by Mike Liassides

THE PLAY

Ghost story, set in an old haunted house in the late 1950s. Learned Dr Montague gathers a small team of talented psychic researchers - Eleanor, Theodora and the irreverent Luke - to help him investigate whether Hill House is truly haunted. Housekeeper Mrs Dudley seems to think so, but - whilst a little sinister to begin with - it appears otherwise. Dr Montague's theory that places simply absorb an essence of wickedness seem to be borne out, until Eleanor starts to dream of the house calling to her.
Later, Dr Montague's wife and her assistant arrive with ouija boards and other trappings in tow, but the house shows them nothing of its character. Meanwhile, Eleanor's terrifying experiences continue, with unseen things rattling the doors and laughing in the night. It culminates with her sleepwalking to the top of the crumbling tower and nearly falling to her death. Dr Montague declares that the experiment is too dangerous to continue with, but Eleanor knows she cannot leave now. Helpless to prevent her, the others watch as she takes the car and drives it, full-speed, into a tree.

FROM THE GROUP

This was my debut production. Quite an ambitious play, as it turned out: luckily, I didn't know any better, otherwise I'd have known better than to try staging it! Still, the cast gave me an easy(ish) time of it, learning their fairly substantial (particularly in Bob's case) speeches and moves very well indeed. More to the point, everyone seemed to enjoy doing it, which came as quite a relief. The younger element (Sam, Gwynn and Karen) turned in some particularly impressive performances, given that they had to convey the mounting terror of the situation in contrast to Bob's measured and detached scientific curiosity. And Ann gave a sweepingly exuberant turn as the faux-psychic Mrs Montague, absolutely filling the stage whenever she was on!

Obviously, I was never going to rival the classic black-and-white film based on the book - "The Haunting" - famed as it was for all sorts of innnovative and radical camera techniques, but I did have a lot of ideas about how to create a suitable atmosphere. There was a lot of work to do right at the beginning, as the script called for two rooms: the lounge and Eleanor and Theodora's bedroom. There was no way that would fit on the stage, so I had to rewrite parts of it to have all the action in the lounge. Even fitting that in, with the need for a hallway running across the back of the stage, was quite a trick, considering there had to be space for people as well.
It was the first - and only - time I've sat out at the front for a performance. My inexperienced technical crew had trouble getting the lights and sounds sorted out correctly - apart from Lyndsey, who was chief door-rattler and wall-thumper and did a fine job - and by halfway through opening night I'd had enough of that. Ever since, as what probably qualifies as senior technical person within the group, I've overseen the backstage for all my productions and let the excellent front of house staff deal with meeting the public. I'm sure that both the public and I are a whole lot happier as a result.
Ambitious choice it may have been, as well as slow starting, but the play itself built up beautifully to an ending I really liked, with Karen's taped voice drifting across an empty stage while the house forces her to commit suicide away in the distance. Wish I'd known then some of the things I do now, though: it was good, but I'm sure it could have been improved upon here and there!

Mike - Producer

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