Easing in to the Halloween season this week by going, with a couple of friends, to see an amateur production of The Haunting Of Hill House put on at the Herne Bay Little Theatre.
The play was the 1960s adaptation by F.Andrew Leslie and not the more recent Hammer adaptation and the action restricted to 6 scenes across 2 rooms - Eleanor's bedroom and the lounge. So this means that the play misses some of the key action seen in the film version - for example the memorable spiral staircase scene happens off stage. The script for me also seemed to lack the subtleties of Shirley Jackson's writing. And the lack of a sound effect for Eleanor's off stage car crash near the end made Eleanor's final appearance open to interpretation and perhaps not clear for some puzzled members of the audience.
Anyway, on the whole it was a good night out. One has to get used to the fact that in a small amateur theatre group, the ages and personalities of the characters may not necessarily reflect those as written on the page, but the stage design was excellent for a small production as was the sound effects of the paranormal happenings. And Arthur Parker, Mrs Montague's travelling companion, was played so overly camp in contrast to the brashly written character in the original that stands as the antithesis of Mr Montague, somewhat stole the show and it was worth going just to see this comedy performance.
Anyway the night we went the theatre was sold out, so that stands a a testament to the cast and theatre and their supporters.
Saturday 17th 2019
