Review: GHOSTS, Jermyn Street Theatre

Helene Alving is about to inaugurate an orphanage dedicated to the memory of her late husband, an austere, unfaithful, and unpleasant man. Their son Oswald, who’d been sent away as a child to be protected from the inevitable scandals that would hit his father, returns home. His arrival comes with quite the baggage. Kwame Owusu directs Richard Eyre’s adaptation of Ibsen’s social drama, an exploration of legacy and the inescapability of the past. The production is rather sluggish and bland, but it features a phenomenal central performance by Flora Montgomery.

Owusu delivers an old-fashioned period piece that struggles to carve an identity for itself. It’s a version of Ghosts that we have seen hundreds of times. The choice in accents follows the current customs, with the Alvings and the Pastor (Oliver Alvin-Wilson) speaking in crisp RP, while Regina (Cecilia Appiah) and her father (Peter F Gardiner) drawling away in contrast. Designer Cara Evans envelops the action in mock oak panelling, giving the visuals a warm, sophisticated, class-appropriate look.

Scene changes are carried out over a tasteful score, but the play is otherwise silent. The absence of a soundscape is a double-edged sword: the silences, pauses, and hesitation linger, but it also means that Owusu solely relies on the chemistry and pacing to create movement. His gambit doesn’t pay off entirely, as the stage traffic is mostly a bit flat. In spite of the challenges, Montgomery rises to the occasion and makes this her show. Mourning in clothing but not in spirit, her Helene is sharp and determined.

She lights a fire and weaves her own tension, introducing a delicately complex avoidant mother. Expressive and emotive, Montgomery is magnetic. Her unflinching portrayal carries the project, swiftly becoming its beating heart. From revealing his lifelong feelings for Pastor Manders to consolidating her devotion to her son (Joe Pitts), she continuously enriches the intricacies of her performance. 

She’s surrounded by an adequate cast. Pitts is flippant and bratty, passionate but jaded, shackled by the rage and illness he inherited from his father. He confronts Alvin-Wilson in a quick spar between progress and tradition, but nothing comes of it, just like nothing much comes from his relationship with Appiah’s Regina. She is, in turn, endearing and pleasant throughout, even when her resentment should explode into fury. Her friction with Montgomery is, however, thoroughly delectable.

All in all, Owusu’s Ghosts is but a shadow of some of the most recent productions of the same material. It works well within the space and it’s definitely charming, but it takes its potential for granted and doesn’t do much with it

Ghosts runs at Jermyn Street Theatre until 14 November.

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