Darker Shores - suitably scares and impresses

‘Never work with animals and children’, the saying goes, and now I have a new one: never go to see a thriller at the theatre with your mother.

She jumped so high out of her seat during Michael Punter’s Darker Shores that people came up to her afterwards at Windsor’s Theatre Royal to ask if she was ok.

She was ok. Just startled by the number of surprises and shocks that a small cast can deliver from a set that barely changes.

We were gripped from the moment we took our seats. There are ocean sounds, eerie bursts of mist and a sense of something hanging in the dark air.

Darker Shores is set in Victorian Britain, mainly in ‘The Sea House’ - a grand but gloomy coastal mansion where things go bump in the night – and in the day.

The setting is dreary. The mansion, doubling-up as a guesthouse, looks haggard and beaten, as if someone has tried to rub away its existence.

Its sadness pulls you in, as does the stellar cast of Maxwell Caulfield, Juliet Mills, Michael Praed and Chipo Kureya, each playing characters who are haunted by the regret of past tragedies.

You feel their pain, even if their pain makes them unlikeable. 

It’s just before Christmas day 1875 and Professor Stokes (Maxwell Caulfield), deep in mourning for the loss of his wife and young son, squirrels himself away from the warmth of the festive period in the cold and draughty guesthouse.

He has found the ideal place – as no one is feeling merry at The Sea House either.

But instead of using the time to write his ‘life’s greatest work’ Stokes is distracted by sounds, smells, and a 'presence' that grows almost by the hour.

Noises in the night prevent him from sleeping; housekeeper Mrs Hinchcliffe prevents him from opening the curtains and his staunchly religious beliefs – at first – prevent him from believing in the paranormal. 

Throughout this reworked piece by Theatre Royal Windsor and Birdsong Productions spiritualist Tom Beauregard (Michael Praed) tries to make ‘a believer’ out of ‘a man of science’ Professor Stokes. Together they attempt to piece together the broken parts of what happened at ‘The Sea House' with seances to 'connect with the spirits.' 

The try to solve the mystery of where the master of the house has gone and why its staff hold so many secrets but as the story develops, more ghosts come crashing out like the waves that hit the shores before the dramatic end of act 1.

It’s hard to say anymore without giving away the plot so I will just say this: this is a ghost story on two levels: ghosts that belong in the ‘after world’ and ghosts that are dragged around each day by past mistakes and regrets.

“In my experience there is no such thing as a haunted house – only haunted people,” surmises housemaid Florence whose young character is wise and more composed than her superiors'.

Played by the very watchable Chipo Kurey, Florence is a joy. Her hopeful outlook is balanced by Juliet Mills’ straightforward Mrs Hinchcliffe and together the two opposing characters help the ghosts come out of hiding.

If you want to be entertained and literally placed on the edge of your seat, your nerves, even, go and see Darker Shores at Windsor’s Theatre Royal, or as it tours throughout October and November.

Charlotte Peters, aided by Darren Lang’s consultation on illusions, has mastered the impossible – bringing spirits to life on stage - with excellent movement and timing that kept us forever in a state of limbo. Just like the ghosts in the tale. 

www.theatreroyalwindsor.co.uk/darker-shores/ 

Box office: 01753 853888