Writer: M R James
Adaptor, Director and Performer: Lloyd Parry
Every family, or at least every friendship group, has that one person who, after a couple of glasses of something festive over the holiday season, will start up with telling a long story about something that happened to them recently. If you’re lucky, the story will be engaging and witty and the storyteller enthralling to listen to, and this will result in rapt attention. If you’re unlucky, then the storyteller will be rambling and hard to hear, your mind will wander halfway through, you’ll lose track of who the characters are and you’ll begin to wish you’d just suggested playing Monopoly.
Unfortunately Casting the Runes: Two Ghost Stories by M R James somehow manages to be both things simultaneously.
M R James is a master of the horror genre. He wrote his short stories in the early 1900s, many of them designed to be performed to friends on Christmas Eve, redefining the form and becoming the Grandfather of the contemporary ghost story. His work has been redeveloped, reimagined and retrodden multiple times, and is often included in many a Christmas line up. Storyteller Lloyd Parry of Nunkie Productions is clearly a huge and reverent fan of his work, and his passion for bringing the stories to life is evident from the second he begins talking, performing Casting the Runes in the first act and The Residence at Whitminster in the second. One on one, Parry must be a fascinating person to discuss all thing Jamesian with. In a theatre space however, he unfortunately falls flat.
The set up for Casting the Runes: Two Ghost Stories by M R James is wonderfully atmospheric, taking its lead from the 2000 BBC filming of Christopher Lee reading M R James’ stories in a candle lit room at Kings College. Parry sits in a stately looking armchair, beside a table filled with curios, sipping whisky by the light of four candles. Beautiful. The first three rows must have a gorgeous view. The rest of the auditorium can hardly see anything, and the eventual eye strain of trying to focus on the shadowy figure results in a few grumbles quite early on. It’s easy to see that Parry is gesticulating and making faces, but what those gestures and expressions are would be easier to interpret with just the smallest hit of additional lighting. Anyone in the audience who relies on lipreading or simply needs to watch someone’s face to focus is done for. It would be easy to make the performance accessible without killing the atmosphere by adding just a little front lighting from a diffused spotlight – even those without additional needs would benefit greatly from it. Also beneficial would be if Parry just slowed down a little. A good story needs time to breathe, to build, to let the listener picture what is happening in their minds eye. It’s why these stories are so well respected and have proved their longevity. Your reviewer, even having read both stories previously, couldn’t tell you a darned thing about them based purely on seeing this show. Parry seems so excited by the storytelling that he charges through the words, switching between characters and jumping in with additional details so quickly that it all becomes a blur. In the last ten minutes it is easy to see that several audience members have switched off, as was evidenced at this show by a delayed applause at the abrupt ending.
There is so much about Casting the Runes: Two Ghost Stories by M R James that has been done well. The set is simple but curiosity peaking, the storyteller clearly knowledgeable and talented, the atmosphere delightfully anticipatory. It’s just such a shame that the only shivers the performance raises overall are caused simply by the November chill, rather than any of the ghostly goings on. Maybe just buy a collection and read the stories yourself instead, under a blanket, with your own glass of whisky and lighted candle.
Reviewed on 26th November 2023
