.png)
REVIEW | THE TURN OF THE SCREW - Arcola Theatre - London
AD | Tickets gifted in exchange of an honest review. All views are our own
Morgan Lloyd Malcolm’s new adaptation of The Turn of the Screw puts a fresh frame around Henry James’ classic ghost story. Atmospheric and occasionally startlingly imaginative, it preserves the uncertainty at the heart of the original, even if uneven pacing and awkward staging choices prevent the production from tightening its grip.
A young Governess (played by Amy Tara) arrives at the remote Bly estate to care for the orphaned Flora (played by Kathleen McAuley Irvine) and Miles (played by Toby Beynon), but soon becomes convinced that malevolent spirits are attempting to corrupt them. In Lloyd Malcolm’s version, she is also forced to account for her actions after the event. As an unnamed Man (Jim Fish) challenges her story, she relives her time at Bly while trying to convince both her interrogator and the audience that her version of events is true.
This structure gives the familiar tale a contemporary twist. The question is no longer simply whether the ghosts are real or the product of the Governess’s deteriorating mind; the intentions of those around her are also less certain. Mrs Grose (played by Katy Slater) is more antagonistic and potentially complicit than the anxious and obedient housekeeper of many previous versions, while the predatory undertones surrounding the children’s absent guardian, the Master (also played by Fish), are brought more sharply into focus. The altered histories of Miss Jessel and Peter Quint also introduce an element of unpredictability for audiences who know the story, without losing sight of what makes James’ novella so enduring.
In Act One, the writing has a tendency to circle the same fears and suspicions without deepening them, slowing the momentum. The act also ends on a striking cliff-hanger that is only briefly acknowledged after the interval, leaving both its reality and its consequences insufficiently explored. This may be intended to reflect the Governess’s fractured experience of time, but the moment feels glossed over rather than deliberately unresolved.
Amy Tara convincingly balances the Governess’s determination to protect the children with the possibility that she is spiralling into delusion. I would have liked greater variation in her delivery as the character’s desperation intensifies, but it is a committed performance throughout.
Katy Slater makes Mrs Grose a combative and sinister presence, while Jim Fish brings menace to both the Master and the Governess’s relentless interrogator.
Kathleen McAuley Irvine and Toby Beynon give Flora and Miles an unsettling mix of playfulness and calculation, with Janita Mikkola completing the ensemble.
Casting adults as the children is a practical choice for a touring production and enables McAuley Irvine and Beynon to double as Miss Jessel and Quint. Even so, I found it difficult to overcome. Miles and Flora should initially appear innocent and vulnerable, making the possibility of their corruption all the more disturbing. Here, they seem unsettling from the outset, weakening that progression.
Director Nicky Allpress achieves mixed results. Some scenes feel flat, while others are staged with striking invention. A sequence depicting the Governess underwater is particularly well choreographed, aided by Mandy Gordon’s movement direction and a wash of cool, shifting light.
There are also several beautifully simple scares. In one effective moment, Flora appears in a ghostly costume and throws her books in a tantrum, only for the real Flora to emerge on the other side of the stage moments later. It’s an economical piece of stagecraft that immediately unsettles our sense of what we have seen.
Hattie North’s sound design is excellent throughout, filling Bly with faint disturbances, disconcerting whistles and unnerving suggestions of something just beyond sight. Matthew Cassar’s set and costume design, Oliver McNally’s lighting and Wayne Fox’s illusions create a suitably oppressive atmosphere, supported by a judiciously deployed smoke machine.
Unfortunately, much of that work is compromised by the production’s use of the space. Studio 1 seats the audience on three sides, yet the set and several important effects appear designed primarily for the smaller, head-on section. From a side seat, I could not see much of the backdrop representing Bly or several of the jump scares. In a production that depends heavily on fleeting images and visual shocks, obscuring them from the majority of the audience is a serious problem.
Overall, The Turn of the Screw is a creative but respectful reimagining of James’ novella, enlivened by an eerie soundscape and flashes of visual ingenuity. A tighter script, greater tonal variation from the lead and staging that accounted for all audience sightlines would make its menace much harder to escape.
★★★
The Turn of the Screw plays at the Arcola Theatre, London, until 10 October 2026. Tickets and further information are available from the https://www.arcolatheatre.com/event/the-turn-of-the-screw/
