Review: 'Broken glass, betrayal and gothic chills' in The Shadow in the Mirror

The season of mists is the ideal time for a fresh, and flesh-creeping new production to open at The Mill. 

The Shadow in the Mirror is based on The Entrance, a short story by Gerald Durrell, the author and naturalist best known for My Family and Other Animals set in the isle of Corfu. 

But sunshine and fun fauna are far away here. 

The play begins in low light with an eerie undertow of sound, a man centre stage slumped over a desk, an oil lamp beside him, and then, in the desilvered old mirror behind, a shadow starts to loom larger - and he starts awake. 

It's Marseille, 1901. The man is Peter Letting, an antiquarian bookseller, due to be guillotined for murder. But what has brought him to this? Through the questions and suggestions of his jailor, the events that lead Peter to this moment are uncovered. 

We are taken aback to see Peter (Nick Waring) meet a French aristocrat, Gideon de Teildras Villeray, (Gregg Lowe, complete with flourishing round cape), who asks him to catalogue a library at the remote chateau he has inherited. 

Mild-mannered Peter agrees and says he will be happy alone in the castle with books for company as well as the incumbent dog, a parrot and canaries. (I like the idea that Durrell couldn't resist including animals in - though even a coalmine would be better for a canary than this chateau.)

The story has been adapted by Dugald Bruce-Lockhart, who directs. He discovered it at the age of 14 and I wonder if the thought of adapting it has been lurked in his mind ever since. There's some thoughtful touches and introducing the jailor character John (George Dillon), makes excellent sense dramatically. 

Giles Taylor as Edward Mallory/Warden and Prosecutor completes the cast, all of whom bring energy and commitment, ensuring that even the most eccentric details - from canaries to capes - carry us into Durrell's imagination. 

Despite the sinister setting, the script contains some nice comic moments and witty lines evoking bursts of relieved laughter from the audience, especially as the menace builds. 

With Schoenberg string quartets playing in the interval and an evocative score by Simon Slater, the darkness and drama are irresistible. Diego Pitarch's set is a beauty, with a large door and wide stairs stage right, a winding staircase stage left and mysterious arched mirrors in the centre. It's very striking, there is even a gobo showing the shadow of a foxed mirror. 

It all builds to broken glass, betrayal and gothic chills, the devil really is in the detail. 

The Shadow in the Mirror is showing at The Mill at Sonning until Saturday, November 8/