Don’t Look Now
Evie Marlow in Don't Look Now. (All photos by Manuel Harlan)
Review by Catherine Larner.
The audience came with high expectations. Whether they’d seen the film or read the book, they’d have been aware of this as a classic tale of horror, mystery and intrigue. And the New Wolsey doesn’t hold back in its promotion of the play. Scheduled for the month of Halloween, it is billed as ‘a spine-tingling, supernatural thriller’, with posters in the foyer urging us to be familiar with the content before taking our seats.
It is a story of the loss of a child, the grief, guilt and psychological impact on a relationship, and a desire to believe or accept something more, a life beyond, in premonitions and the supernatural.
It clearly had an appeal and, as the audience gathered in the bar beforehand, there was an energy in the buzz of excitement and anticipation. This carried through into the auditorium as we entered into an immersive experience - there would be no opportunity to escape, after all.
It is a 100 minute production with no interval.
The play started as it meant to go on, however - full of promise but strangely lacking.
A young girl, dressed in blue, walks confidently onto the stage, and settles herself on the floor. She studiously scribbles on a piece of paper, drafting and colouring in a face. Behind her, pixellated images fade in and out on the backdrop and eerie music gradually builds in volume.
We all wait and watch attentively but minutes pass and we become desperate for action.
Eventually we are introduced to John and Laura, visiting Venice seeking to rekindle their relationship after the death of their young daughter, Christine, from meningitis. At a restaurant, Laura meets two sisters, one of whom claims to have had a vision where Christine has a message, warning the couple of imminent danger.
There was much to enjoy about this production but sadly it didn’t deliver in providing any sense of menace or foreboding for me.
The star of the show was the set, seemingly simple but powerfully conjuring up the darkness, other-worldliness and claustrophobia of Venice. Use of the stairs and windows by the actors gave a sense of the maze of alleyways and a glistening floor beautifully conveyed the ever-present water, with scene changes gliding in and out like gondolas!
And the supporting characters triumphed for me. The hotel receptionist and detective were convincingly Italian, and the two sisters had a strong bond and held their American accents well, although they came across as benign rather than sinister.
Laura and John were sadly rather two dimensional with no real connection, depth or intimacy. The grief at losing their child seemed transitory and superficial and John’s moments of premonition just seemed weird.
I don’t like horror or the supernatural, but I do enjoy a gothic ghost story and this play seemed to shy away from being either.
Exploring this story and all its nuances in 100 minutes was a big ask, though.
To be fair, I was glad not to be spooked and I’m now eager to read more Daphne du Maurier, so ultimately it was a good night out!
Don;t Look Now is at New Wolsey theatre in Ipswich until 25 October.
FOR SHOW DETAILS AND BOOKING LINK, CLICK HERE