Top cast shore up melodrama

THE portents were grim. When family illness pulled Mark Gatiss (The League of Gentlemen) out of Michael Punter’s Victorian ghost story 48 hours before the first performance, audiences and critics braced themselves for a new breed of horror: the tragic loss of two hours of their lives.
It turns out those fears were misplaced.
Darker Shores is one of the most enjoyable few hours you could spend in a theatre this Christmas, a witty and inventive piece of melodrama that manages to be knowing but never snide, and consistently the right side of hammy.
In Gatiss’s absence Tom Goodman-Hill fills the sceptical shoes of Professor Gabriel Stokes, a God-fearing man of science whose academic pursuits – a rebuttal of Darwin’s theory of evolution – are disturbed by things that go bump in the night during a stay at a creepy seaside mansion.
You know the type of place: everything painted black, icy servants, inexplicably locked doors, mysterious madman for a previous owner.
It practically sells itself.
Despite obvious reservations,
Stokes enlists the help of Tennessee medium Tom Beauregard (Julian Rhind-Tutt), a man of bluster and flamboyance whose knowledge of spirits may well end at Jack Daniels.
Together, they return to The Sea House to solve the mystery.
Cue the smoke machine, effective lighting from Tim Mitchell and some noteworthy illusions.
Goodman-Hill’s clipped, tensile turn as the professor is first-rate and well complemented by the louche charm of Rhind-Tutt’s spiritualist. Pamela Miles and Vinette Robinson provide competent support as the housekeepers who may know more than they let on, and Paul Farnsworth’s set impresses.
Alright, so it’s not scary and the conclusion feels a little lightweight. Spectres of parody haunt the piece, but surely it’s better to be a conscious and successful pastiche than an unwitting one? (Some of the long-running West End thrillers spring to mind.)
The Hampstead Theatre is onto a winner here: an effervescent show, suitable for ages 12 and over, and perfect for the holiday season.
Until January 16
020 722 9301
SIMON WROE