PHOTOS

(STATE THEATRE)

“This is actually ; the tragic story of a mother who gets pregnant out of wedlock, and is forced by her family and friends to give up her child !” …

Years ago, when I first read the play, this was the “thing” that stuck out to me… More than a horror and thrill filled ghost story, it was, at its core, the way a woman, a mother, was handed a strict, cruel, ruthless fate by a common judgement ! The very thing that is still so commonly experience all around the world, that thing that scares so many women. It has many names… but let’s call it a “thing !”…

I was thoroughly impressed by the way a tragedy such as this was decorated with elements of horror and carried over to a theater stage. Susan Hill had written a horrid, contemplative, thrilling, exciting and impressive novel. Stephen Mallatratt had taken those same emotions and adapted the novel for the stage. It was different, it was electric. It had to be put on stage one day, for us, for us all…

Jennet Humfrye was simply one of the many young women who could not resist the societal rules of morality. She was weak, penniless, with no one to support her. She was a young woman who had been ignored, cast aside ; who could not free herself from the pressures of her family and social circle despite giving birth to her child abroad. 

Then one day… She witnessed the death of her child, that precious thing that gave her a reason to live. She then disappeared into the fog, fell in a deep darkness. She blamed her sister for her child’s death. She fell ill while burning up in a raging desire of vengeance. She became skeletal, her soul blackened and perished… Her body decomposed down below the earth, but her soul kept on living, ever growing in its rage and vengefulness. It was entirely ruthless, now, every child was an inch away from an untimely death. Whenever the ghost was spotted by someone, a child died… 

But who was really guilty here ? Was it her, or her ghost ?.. Or…

Well… You’ll have to watch and see…