*****

Haunting Julia- Sutton Arts Theatre

A welcome revival of Alan Ayckbourn’s  1994 play, the first part of a trilogy  of Things That  Go Bump. The 2002 play Snake in the Grass ,and  Life and Beth,  being parts two and three. The inspiration for the play  came  from the stage adaptation of The Woman in Black. This is not populist   Ayckbourn,  and marks his move  towards more contemporary themes rather than  social realism.  Sutton Arts lay before us a  Halloween  spine chiller- thriller  which explores suicide and Psychic claims

 We are introduced  to Julia Lukin, a nineteen-year-old brilliant musician who committed suicide twelve years earlier, who haunts the three men closest to her, through both the supernatural and in their memories. Special effects are largely eschewed in favour of good acting and a tense script – but rest assure of some delicious spooky surprises and moments, courtesy of David Ashton and his team  on lighting and sound. the lights flicker and things go bump…

This is a  ghost story, about  three men, and their relationships to Julia, a gifted musician who took her life aged nineteen in which the  conventions of the ghost story format are challenged.

The tale  features:

Joe Lukin, ( David Stone) Julia’s father,  who  has never let his daughter go, convinced there are unanswered questions about her death.

Andy Rollinson, ( Alan Groucott)  Julia’s student boyfriend, now married with  a family.

Ken Chase, ( Ian Eaton) an unassuming, nervous, mysterious  man  who offers his services as a psychic to Joe.

There are also two voice parts in the play: one of Julia (or, more accurately, an actress imitating her voice speaking words the real Julia would probably never have said), and a sombre male voice talking about her death.

The entire play takes place in the Julia Lukin Music Centre, an uneasy mixture between a public music facility and shrine from Joe to his daughter. The room in question is Julia’s  ( improbably tidy ) room as a student , now with a walkway installed for public viewing.

In a format used only the second time in a full-length Ayckbourn play, Haunting Julia was written as  a ‘real-time’ play (Absent Friends being the first), with a single continuous scene running throughout the whole play. It was intended that the entire play would be performed without an interval to maximise the tension, but this is amateur theatre,  and  bar takings matter , so some mid show relief is provided!

Leah Fennell is outstanding as  the voice of Julia, whose parents push her to achieve things on their behalf,  bringing character to  a person who never appears on stage, articulating mystery and grief.

The play is set twelve years after the death of musician  Julia . To a modern day audience the sceptres of Kurt Cobain and Amy Winehouse are invoked. Her father, who still cannot come to terms with her death, has turned her student bed-sitting room into a museum which the public can visit – for himself it is a shrine to her memory .

The production team at Sutton  invariably  produce good sets. This one is no exception. With Martin Groves and his team working their magic once again.The single bed with the teddy bear on the pillow might at first seem to be a child’s bedroom, but the roped-off barrier around the bed soon suggests something else – and this barrier becomes essential to the themes of the play. They can build brick walls too!

This is a long play that has to be carried by just three actors. Luckily all three are capable of meeting the challenge of portraying  their  part in the events leading to Julia’s death.

David Stone   as Julia’s father  Joe, not only conveys his own pain but also helps us realise how oppressive he may have been as a parent to a gifted, but unhappy daughter. Garrulous, truculent, loquacious,  opinionated and arrogant , yet also vulnerable, and frightened that he may have been at fault. As a fellow grumpy old man I enjoyed his performance enormously.

Alan Groucott  gives a pleasingly nuanced performance as Andy, Julia’s former student boyfriend  whose exact relationship with her unravels in unsettling style  .

 Ian Eaton  excels  as  Ken Chase, the volunteer psychic who turns out to have had more to do with Julia than he is at first  willing to reveal.  Is he a conman, a crank, or a genuine visionary? Ian keeps us guessing.

This is veteran Director Claire Armstrong-Mills’ first Ayckbourn production, a real stunner . She was bold and  brave to take on this tricky  three hander. It was well worth waiting for. Sleep well everyone!  

Julia continues to haunt until  1^st November.