AMATEUR THEATRE REVIEW: House Of Ghosts - The Garrick Playhouse, Altrincham. Greater Manchester.

Inspector Morse is recognised by most as one of the greatest crime dramas of all time, audiences this week had the pleasure of seeing this iconic character brought to life at the Altrincham Garrick.

Written by Alma Cullen ‘House Of Ghosts’ brings Colin Dexter’s characters to life in this stage production, the audience were mostly Morse fans laughing in acknowledgment at inside jokes and references. The general mood of the audience was of content for the representation and even for me who hasn’t seen or read anything of Morse the production was intriguing as a stand-alone piece.

The audience greatly enjoyed the opening sequence of the play, as actors hidden as members of the audience began emerging from their seats and reacting to Rebecca’s dramatic death (executed with graphic realness by the talented Ciara Booker), there was first confusion and then amusement as they realised the set up. Jonathan Black’s Morse was a strong portrayal of the well-known trope authoritative man with human flaws determined to do the right thing because of his good morals. Other stand out performances came from actors Stewart Mathers as the heartless theatre director and Andrew Higson as Detective Sergeant Lewis, Higson’s detective piecing together the story and ability to challenge status with his superior showed admirable acting talent.

My personal highlight was the terrific staging, designer Barry Purves gave director Mike Shaw and his cast a wonderful set to work with. Five entrances, one centre and two either side to the wings gave the actors many options to enter and exit and this was used to great effect. Doors opening and closing simultaneously, actors appearing one after the other, really kept the energy up. The use of sectioning the stage also, a raised central piece – boards of a stage where a lot of the theatre scenes took place, left space either side for other scenes to flow one after another with use of lighting and action in mime to not pull focus from the current scenes. This was so slick it was very much like watching a television show cutting from one scene to another.

The team that pulled this amateur production together should be immensely proud, the set was very impressive made by a big team of volunteers. There was a large cast that must have been difficult to rehearse together. My criticism would be that the text at times seemed to inhibit some actors and distract from their emotional connection to what was happening to their character at that point. Had lines been cut down or made simpler actors maybe would have had chance to relax and enjoy their scenes more.

A tremendous feat for an amateur theatre company, the audience very much enjoyed it.

Reviewer - Kerry Ely
on - 24.5.22