Haunting Julia @ Darlington Civic

Winter is a traditional time for ghost stories; the dark nights, howling winds, driving rain all create an atmosphere of doom and despair which the best Gothic writers manage to draw into their tales of apparitions and unsettled souls.  Billed by many as an alternative to The Woman in Black, the marketing for Alan Ayckbourn's Haunting Julia promises to send chills and shivers down the collective spines of the audience but if you come along expecting a shock and jump fest then you are going to be very surprised indeed.

Set in a memorial music studio-come-mausoleum and starring just 3 characters (Joe - Julia's father, Andy - Julia's ex boyfriend and Ken - a psychic), Haunting Julia tells the story of how a child prodigy grows up under the constant pressure of parental pride, the inability to allow herself to act 'normally'and her subsequent suicide, driven in part by the abject realisation that maybe she could be a musical genius or a normal young lady but not both.

From the opening lines it is clear who wrote this play - the intricate word play, the everyday characters and the soul searching monologues all demonstrate Ayckbourn's trademark framework which, for fans of his work, is grounded in the suburban mundane of 'Any Street, Every Town', but it is here that some of the magic, the mystery and the menace of a ghost story is lost.  The characters are almost too well written, their stories leave nothing to be explored by the audience and as such there is no real threat felt which one would normally associate with a thriller. At the same time, there is a lack of plausibility in the circumstances surrounding how these three men come to be 're-united' after 12 years of no contact.  

Ayckbourn himself stated that Haunting Julia was a psychological ghost story but really the ghost and the haunting play second fiddle to the story of how misplaced parental pride (both in the child's ability and in the parent's inability to let nature happen) can create deeper and more profound harm than non-acceptance ever could. It is more a study of grief and guilt than of ghosts and ghouls.

At times you have to suspend belief around the interaction of the characters and the holes in the story otherwise you could find yourself pontificating over the timelines of events and over-analysing the characters motives (why would Andy agree to return 12 years later and spend time with Joe despite them never meeting while Julia was alive?).  The sound effects and visual set work well to draw the audience in and the finale is certainly not an anti-climax but again, this is not a thriller ghost story and so should be viewed as a play into the insight of human emotions, not spooks and scares.  Think of it as a theme park ride with a long and detailed pre-ride build up as you meander round the queue, up the steps and into the car.  Then you're off on the ride before suddenly, you're back outside, heart-rate a little raised but safe and sound.  

For fans of Alan Ayckbourn this is another great play, full of the witty one liners, northern humour and dry observations; for those of a nervous disposition fear not, your sleep will not be disturbed.