A period piece has the potential to transport you into another era. While ‘The Turn of the Screw’ does just that with its ornate Victorian set and old-world European costumes that recall the late 19th century, the overall production failed to impress.

For a play in which the acting is supposed to be the main spectacle, it fell flat, making the production seem more like a mediocre made-for-television film about the Victorian age.

Brought to life by playwright Jeffrey Hatcher, the ghostly drama is the Syracuse University Department of Drama’s season opener, running through Oct. 16 at Syracuse Stage.

Adapted from Henry James’ 1898 novella, the play’s story centers around an unnamed governess hired to look after two young children in an estate in Essex, a suburb of London, after their parents’ untimely death. Miles, the older son, has recently returned home from boarding school at the play’s opening. The younger daughter, Flora, lived at the estate under the care of the housekeeper, Mrs. Grose, until the governess arrives. With the aid of Mrs. Grose, the governess learns that the children are haunted by the ghosts of their past caretakers, who died shortly before the governess arrived. As secrets are revealed and new information is discovered, the governess finds herself losing control of the children.

An interesting aspect of Hatcher’s stage adaptation is that all of the characters, save for the governess, are played by one man. He takes on the roles of the uncle, the two children, Mrs. Grose and other figures that appear throughout the play. The governess acts as the narrator, breaking character intermittently to explain the actions and thoughts of each character.

While this was a creative adaptation of the original novella, the production was not executed well, mainly due to the inconsistent acting.

Actress Kristen Sieh managed to portray the governess as a strong and vulnerable woman, a feat that served the role well. The role of the governess in this story is to instill discipline and structure into the children’s lives, forcing her to act with confidence and authority. Sieh embodied these characteristics at points in the story when the children tried to take control and the governess had to put her proverbial foot down. In the plays’ climactic scene, in which she must save the children from ghostly forces, Sieh sufficiently channeled the feelings of helplessness. But she sometimes played them too dramatically, making her performance unbelievable.

Curzon Dobell tackled the remaining roles, playing them with few variations. Such diverse characters, from a housekeeper to a young boy, should have completely separate postures, body movements and ways of speaking. But as he switched back and forth from role to role, Dobell displayed many of the same characteristics for all the characters, making it difficult to distinguish whom he was playing. His performance created a sense of confusion in the production, lessening the intensity of the more dramatic parts. If it were not for the narration of the governess, keeping track of the characters would have proved near impossible.

The technical aspects of the production, including lighting and scenic design, done by Thomas Hase and Shoko Kambara, respectively, fit very well for the show. The sparse set featured a large, Victorian window on the back wall of the stage facing the audience, a wooden stage floor and a gold-painted chair. The set was appropriately minimalistic, effectively creating an accurate Victorian atmosphere.

The spooky and climactic storyline gets the viewer in the right spirit for the Halloween season. But the show’s plot is very convoluted. It’s not a light show; it forces the audience to really engage in the plot and think hard. For those willing to take on the challenge and understand it, ‘The Turn of the Screw’ could make for an enjoyable night at the theater.

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Published on September 28, 2011 at 12:00 pm

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