Review | Charles Dickens' The Haunting

Charles Dickens' The Haunting Adapted by Hugh Janes Review by Nikki Talbot

3  feverishly fantastic actors (And the loquacious yet chilling voice of Jonathan Markwood)  Several combined ghost stories from the imaginative and industrious Charles Dickens and a play written by the talented and ground-breaking writer Hugh Janes. 

This is what you get when you visit The New Vic Theatre at the moment to watch The Haunting. 

Sheltering from the howling winds that tear across the surrounding desolate moorland, and sheltering in an old crumbling mansion, two men stumble across a dark and terrifying secret that will change both of their lives.

Young book dealer, David Filde, employed to catalogue a private library, finds an incredible array of rare and antiquated books. But as a series of strange and unexplained events conspires to keep him from his work, he realises that if he is to convince his sceptical employer, Lord Gray that the mysterious phenomena he is experiencing are real, they must journey together to the very edge of terror, and beyond...

And this is what happens as the story progresses into a supernatural, ghostly world which literally has members of the audience, jump out of their seats gasping - all done superbly atmospherically in The Round, adding to the audience’s spine chilling experience. 

The two main characters played magnificently by David Ahmad (Lord Gray) and Richard Leeming (David Filde) act like their literal lives depend on it. The relationship between them  is tense and electric - 

But add beautifully haunting and talented newcomer Jessica Hole, who plays Mary, into the mix and the eccentricity and eerie feelings intensify to boiling point. 

A powerful play. Prepare to be spooked.  

Catch this masterpiece at The New Vic Theatre, Newcastle Under Lyme until 15th June .