Turn of the Screw

Reviewed by Holly Bartges

With Halloween creeping closer to the horizon, many want to get into the spirit of producing spooky type stories.

The Governess (Emily Paton Davies) and Miles (Michael Morgan) encounter a ghostly visitor in a scene from Turn of the Screw.

Modern Muse does exactly that with Jeffrey Hatcher’s adaptation of Henry James’ novella, Turn of the Screw.

Except it is not very spooky. Well done, yes, through direction by Stephen J. Lavezza and Gabriella Cavallero and applied artistic expertise by Emily Paton Davies and Michael Morgan, but falls short of spookiness.

I have to be honest. Ever since I saw The House of Wax through 3-D glasses with Vincent Price way back when, nothing on stage or film falls into the realm of spooky or scary. There always seem to be holes somewhere along the line. The holes either strike my funny bone or prod my logical way of thinking into action searching out the illogical.

It’s not clear if the problem with Turn of the Screw is with James’ novella or with Hatcher’s adaptation.

However, if its performance you want, Modern Muse’s production at the Bug Theatre amply supplies that.

Morgan designed the apt stage setting that fits the story line to a tee. In upper stage center two large dead trees squeak out scary story. On one side of the stage lives a small platform taking the characters down to the lake, and on the other side lives a larger platform with a single wooden chair in front serving a variety of places.

A spot shines on The Man (Morgan) who sets the scene. The story that is about to unfold comes from the diary of his sister’s governess, beginning in the garden June 17, 1872, Morgan adapts a serious stance flirting with spooky. After his parents were killed, a proper bachelor uncle assumes care for the two small children. He wants nothing to do with them, however, and has them living in a stone mansion far away. Advertising for a governess, a 20-year-old (Davies) applies. The charismatic Uncle oils his properness with a large dose of wanting to seduce the new perspective governess almost as much as he wants to make sure the children stay far far away from him.

Morgan changes hats assuming the posture of the cold aloof proper bachelor. He makes it very clear the governess is to be in charge. He does not want her to contact him for any reason. Any problem that arises is completely up to her. He does not want to be bothered. She is to report to the mansion known as Bly warning her “You shall be lonely, very lonely.” In her young youthful innocence off she goes to “Spookyville.”

The 10-year-old boy, Miles, is away at school. Her main concern is with 8-year-old Flora, a pretty angelic little girl executing evil-bent behavior and who doesn’t speak. Flora appears on stage through the imagination of the governess and Mrs. Grose. The technique works.

Davies maintains an intrigue with the governess as she works her way through strange and unexplained goings on. Easily startled by weird noises and things that go bump in the night, Davies does give quite a believable performance of a young woman stepping out of her comfort zone into the dark unknown.

Morgan flows amazingly through the characters of a storyteller, a detached proper gentleman following through on his uninvolved duty, to the bent over very old housekeeper, Mrs. Grose, to the mischievous mysterious 10-year-old Miles. Without a change of costume, Morgan projects the inside/outside demeanor of each character. You actually see secretive wrinkled Mrs. Gross. The slimy harried smile of Miles reveals the strange and weird behavior of the boy who ends up being expelled from school for questionable uncouth behavior.

Two ghosts play a large part. Previous servants of Bly, Peter Gant, the Master’s Valet and the former governess, Miss Jessell both disappeared from puzzling deaths. Gant and Jessell were obviously lovers. According to Mrs. Grose they were sneaky and did terrible nasty things right underneath her window at night. The ghosts appear to the governess. Both have a power over the children creating an eerie illusion that feeds the governess’ self-planted neurotic tendencies. Of course, she wants to know why Miles was expelled, what’s behind his evil grin, why an angelic non-speaking little girl lives in an evil persona, why Mrs. Grose remains dauntingly secretive, and what these scary apparitions want from her.

With no one of wisdom to help her, having to carry the weight of the torment on her own inexperienced shoulders, the governess does a grand job of scaring herself into a psychological frenzy. Left alone to her own devices, she scrambles to solve the mysterious goings-on. Only then does Mrs. Grose step in.

Even though young Miles dies in the arms of the governess, it is he all grown up telling the story wanting to know if the audience has been seduced. I wasn’t. OK, he raises the question as to whether the story has any validity leaving it up to the audience to decide. Maybe he was the apparition.

I was, however, mesmerized by the quality of performance given by Morgan and Davies. That’s enough to say don’t let this gem pass by without calling for reservations.