Rebecca Tremain reviews Maureen Sullivan’s Ghost Hunting at Bembridge Village Hall.
Any play that opens with the haunting voice of Terry Hall from The Specials ‘Has me at hello’ as it were, and Ghost Hunting by Maureen Sullivan does not disappoint.
Packed with gags and full of Island history, this comedy was well received by the Sunday matinee audience at Bembridge Village Hall.
The premise is simple but effective. Karen (ably played by Donna Wearen) pretends she can see ghosts to impress the public on her Island Ghost Walks. Unbeknownst to her however, the Ghosts really ARE there and what a formidable bunch they are. Special plaudits go to Libby Pike’s ebullient Queen Victoria – surely a close relation of Blackadder’s spoilt Queenie – and to Andrew Wilson Jenner’s Shakespeare who makes a persuasive case that his plays should be staged not read, much to the vocal agreement of the Bembridge audience.
I particularly enjoyed the rivalry between Shakespeare and Keats (handsomely played by Philip Barker) and Shakespeare’s bon mots at the expense of the others. When told that Karen is a Medium, he tartly replies that she looks ‘more of a Large’ – just one of many little asides that hit the spot throughout a packed couple of hours that fly by in such convivial company.
Jason Harris plays Bernard, an Everyman figure elevated by his genuine ability to see and interact with the Ghosts: a pitch-perfectly understated performance that allows the play never to fall into absurdity. Tasked with organising Queen Victoria’s – or Vicky as she insists on being called – Death Day Party, Bernard moves between the Ghosts and the ‘Livings’ as we learn more about our Island History than we expected at the top of the show.
Maureen Sullivan – a formidable Lady Isabella, last historical chatelaine of the Isle of Wight both acts and directs with a lightness of touch which allows the more serious messages of the play to hit their mark. Women are historically persecuted, burned or drowned as witches, and Angie Burton’s Temperance solicits our sympathy accordingly. Simon Lynch cuts a dash as the puritanical Witch Hunter Hopkins, there is a memorable cameo from newcomer Jocob Mills as Cadwalla of Wessex and special mention to Ed Nash as Charles I – head winningly stuck back on with blue tack and some able physical comedy.
As ever with an Ad Lib production, an indisputable star show is the Wardrobe Department, with West End standard costumes by Andrew Wilson Jenner. What I wouldn’t give for 5 minutes in his dressing up box!
The Island’s amateur theatre scene is lucky to have such a talented and versatile company of actors who clearly know each other’s strengths and play to them. A jewel of a piece, glittering like Vicky’s diamante tiara, Bravo!
