Writer: Justin Cartledge
Director: Amy Clayton
Greed, fear, and mental breakdown are central themes in this chilling 55-minute three-hander. All the actors in Lighthouse are completely committed and, despite occasionally erratic accents, believable.
Veteran lighthouse-keeper Morgan (played by writer Justin Cartledge) has sent his new trainee James (Richard Orchard-Rowe) out in the cold to count seagulls. He laughs about this with his fellow old-hand and comrade of many years, Mac (Darren Matthews). It’s one of few moments of light relief, even as it foreshadows the pervasive sense of control and manipulation, which darkens into something that can’t possibly end well.
Set in a remote Scottish lighthouse, soon after the First World War, this show is a study in psychological deterioration. All three men have fought in the war. Early on, they toast “the fallen” with whisky, each hiding their own scars from bereavement, disappointment, and trauma. Lighthouse keepers come to this distant island, “this rock of ghosts”, looking for escape (“I needed some peace,” says James), but there is no escape from thoughts and memories.
“It’s not a crime to survive,” Mac tells Morgan. The war dead, the accidental deaths of friends and family, a spouse succumbing to fever while her soldier husband is away at war… individual layers of tragedy begin to mirror each other. The evocative description of a screaming horse sinking into the blood-stained boggy fields of France parallels the story of Morgan’s brother, swept under the restless North Sea waves.
Sound and Lighting Technician, Neil Gray, has helped conjure up this storm-menaced island. A shifting soundtrack of water dripping, knocking, howling wind, eerie voices and waves crashing on the rocks adds to an unsettling atmosphere. “Do you remember the sound of that horse drowning in France?” asks Morgan. “So many noises…” answers Mac. The lighting is less successfully evocative, but a touring show adapts as best it can to each new space.
A sparse set: chairs and table, a lantern and matches, enamel cups and tea caddies are all that is needed to summon the island’s claustrophobia. The simple costumes are equally effective. As his mind unravels, grey-bearded Mac sheds his standard-issue ribbed sweater and shirt, swigging whisky from the bottle in his vest. There are a couple of good twists towards the end of the play to stop anyone from feeling too sure they know exactly what’s going on here or where it’s all headed.
With its sense of growing paranoia among former friends and its focus on the impact of shellshock or PTSD, this is a kind of Shallow Grave meets early-season Peaky Blinders meets classic locked-room mystery. But don’t expect a neat whodunnit-style solution – the puzzles proliferate and deepen as the brief show goes on, exploring the avarice and selfishness that underlie man’s inhumanity to man. There’s a moment when James holds up a contentious jewel and looks through it at future possibilities like Boromir in the snow with the ring of power in Lord of the Rings.
Amy Clayton’s thoughtful direction adds depth to a gripping psychological mystery. A 2022 hit in Edinburgh, this rebooted production of Lighthouse is on tour and heading for 2026’s summer fringe festivals. Early Doors is a purposeful theatre company, responsible for a string of interesting shows. One to watch this year and beyond.
Reviewed on 5 April 2026 and continues to tour
