Review: THE WHISTLING, The Mill at Sonning
Photo credit: Pamela Raith
The Mill at Sonning has a long history of delivering high quality theatre from its beautiful home perched on the banks of the River Thames. It proudly boasts that it is the only dinner theatre in the UK, and its unique status has kept audiences coming back for over 40 years.
The current production to grace the stage is a world premiere of The Whistling, an adaptation of Rebecca Netley’s novel, which has been reworked by Rachel Wagstaff and Duncan Abel. Wagstaff and Abel have an excellent track record of literary adaptions, having previously brought The Girl on the Train and The Da Vinci Code to the stage, and they have maintained the haunting essence of Netley’s story.
We meet our protagonist, Elspeth (Rebecca Forsyth), as she arrives on the Isle of Skelthsea to care for an orphaned child, Mary (Saffron Haynes), who lives with her aunt (Stephanie Farrell) and a particularly unlikable housekeeper (Raghad Chaar). When Mary’s Aunt Violet reveals that Mary hasn’t spoken a word since the death of her brother, Elspeth takes it in her stride, and vows not to pressure the child to talk until she is ready. However, we soon learn that this isn’t the only unusual occurrence on the island, there are many unexplained secrets among the residents including mysterious disappearances and a strange whistling sound around the large house where Mary and her aunt reside.
All of the classic ghost and horror cliches are featured in the play, rocking horses that move by themselves, dolls appearing in random places, strange sounds, gothic iconography and nods to the occult. Illusionist Guy Barrett has also worked in some gentler movements - twitching book pages, and delicately rustling curtains that are far spookier than the more brash and expected jump scares such as the wind up jack-in-the-box. There is a beautiful moment in the second act where Mary and Elspeth free a captured moth, and the poignancy of the scene is one of the most relatable emotions evoked by the piece.
The production elements of The Whistling are exceptionally strong, with eerie and atmospheric lighting design from Richard J. Jones, which enhances Diego Pitarch’s simple but effective set design. With a few sliding set pieces and some multi-purpose smaller items such as a chest of drawers and some travelling trunks, Pitarch creates a multitude of locations, as well as providing the cast with platforms for some of the more physical sequences in the show. As sound designer, Simon Arrowsmith has had a lot to get his teeth stuck into, and the creepy soundscape undoubtably adds to the unsettling ambience of the show.
Alongside Forsyth ,Haynes, Farrell and Chaar, the cast is completed by Heather Jackson as Ailsa, a local outcast, and Nadia Kramer as Hettie, the mysteriously missing predecessor to Elspeth. Susie Riddell plays Bridget, the wife of the local priest, and Jonny McGarrity who plays not only the priest, but a doctor and the village shop owner. There are no stand out performances amongst the cast, everyone performs their role ably and with clear consideration to their characters motives and backstory.
The Whistling is a good example of genre theatre, which will be enjoyed by lovers of ghost stories and Victorian Gothic tales, but unfortunately the piece is missing an essential spark that could make it a truly compelling production.
*** Three stars
Reviewed by: Sarah Brown
The Whistling plays at The Mill at Sonning until 16 November, with further info here.