THE TURN OF THE SCREW adapted from Henry James by Jeffrey Hatcher, directed by Vikki Anderson, with Christine Horne and Clinton Walker. Presented by DVxT at Campbell House Museum (160 Queen West). Previews tonight (Thursday, October 15), opens Friday (October 16) and runs to November 7, Monday-Saturday 8:30 pm, matinees Wednesday and Thursday 1 pm. $15-$35, Monday pwyc period dinner + show Tuesday 7:30, $35. 416-504-3898. See listing.
Nothing excites actor Clinton Walker more than challenging an audience, shaking it out of its theatrical expectations.
He gets a chance with The Turn Of The Screw, adapted by Jeffrey Hatcher from Henry James’s subtle ghost story.
It’s a piece of site-specific, walkabout theatre, with viewers following Walker and Christine Horne through spooky rooms in Campbell House Museum, built in 1822.
“I love getting people out of their seats so they don’t sit anonymously in the dark across a dividing line from the actors. Instead, they have to make eye contact with us and with each other,” smiles Walker, who scored a hit in last summer’s Fringe show A Singularity Of Being.
“It’s a chance not only to tell the story, but also to showcase the house, which seems the best venue in Toronto for this tale. I could feel something in the air the first time we went inside.”
The central figure in The Turn Of The Screw is an unnamed governess who takes charge of two youngsters on an isolated English estate. She becomes convinced that the former groom and governess, lovers and both now dead, are trying to reach each other again through the children.
“Though it’s a scary story, fear is aroused only through suggestion. We rely on the audience to do the work, using storytelling as the means of creating the horror.
“The two of us are telling stories, not trying to terrify the viewers, but rather plugging into their ability to suspend their disbelief and let their own imaginations guide them through the experience.”
Walker’s done this sort of interactive theatre before. A few years ago he was the main figure in Static the audience, plugged into MP3 players, followed his suicidal character through various areas at Harbourfront Centre. This summer the actor went one-on-one with an audience member in The Distance Between Us, a performance piece at SummerWorks.
“This sort of theatre allows audiences to see spaces in a different way. It’s not a new concept, but I think it’s always a brave choice for a director. There’s so much that can go right, but also so much that can go wrong.”
Director Vikki Anderson is weaving contemporary technology into the old-fashioned ghost story. Candlelight will contribute to the show’s effect, but so will Lara Azzopardi’s video design and John Gzowski’s sound design.
Walker gets to play a number of characters, a job he compares to eating “delicious chunks of freshly baked bread dipped in honey.
“I create four people – the narrator, the uncle who hires the governess, the housekeeper and the boy Miles – using my voice and body. I admit that I sometimes call on my ham abilities, especially when I have to switch characters fluidly in the same scene.”
Later this season Walker goes off to Whitehorse to direct The Laramie Project, about the death of gay student Matthew Shepard, which will be a challenge in its own right.
“Working on that will rip me out of my comfort level,” he predicts. “If I want to consider myself a Canadian artist, I have to explore the corners of this country and then bring the energies and stories I find there back to Toronto.”
jonkap@nowtoronto.com
