In his stage adaptation of The Turn of the Screw, the prolific American playwright, Jeffrey Hatcher, leaves as much as possible to the viewer’s imagination. The shrewdness of this decision is borne out in the gripping production by the West End Players Guild.

The main character is an unnamed, 20-year-old woman is who hired to look after two young children, Miles and Flora. They live in Bly, a remote house in Essex that has “battlements and towers, water below and beneath.” The children became orphans a year earlier. Their only relative is their Uncle, “a gentleman of great wealth and stature, a bachelor in the prime of life.” Because he has “no experience of children,” he puts the Governess “in supreme authority” and tells her never to contact him.

After arriving at Bly, the Governess learns that Miles has been expelled from his school for an undisclosed reason. Also, she glimpses a distinctive-looking man in one of the towers. From the Governess’s description, Mrs. Grose, the housekeeper, identifies the man as Peter Quint, the former valet at Bly. He had a liaison with the previous governess, Miss Jessel. Both Quint and Jessel are now dead. The Governess believes their ghosts are targeting the children.

Originally serialized in 1898, The Turn of the Screw is a classic. Since the 1930s, one of the great critical questions about the Henry James novella is whether the ghosts are real or figments of the Governess’s imagination. This ambiguity is difficult to maintain in a stage adaptation if the audience can see the ghosts.

Hatcher maintains the ambiguity by not allowing the ghosts to appear onstage. His script calls for only two actors. One plays the Governess, who tells her story directly to the audience. The other actor plays the remaining parts. He wears the same costume throughout, but he changes his voice and manner for the Uncle, Mrs. Grose, Miles, and the first character to appear: a man who says he heard the story from the Governess.

In the West End production, Hatcher’s script is a chilling treat for the Halloween season. The suspense is admirably controlled by the direction, lighting, and incidental music by Morgan Maul-Smith.

Payton Gillam conveys the Governess’s deep concern for the children and her increasing desperation as her fears for them grow. Rob McLemore convincingly portrays the other characters and their emotional journeys.

Smith designed the minimal set in which the theater’s stage and floor are connected by stairs. Tracey Newcomb designed the handsome period costumes.

The Turn of the Screw continues through October 13 in the downstairs theater at the Union Avenue Christian Church, 733 Union Boulevard.

—Gerry Kowarsky

Photo by John Lamb
From the left, the Governess (Payton Gillam) protecting Miles (Rob McLemore) in The Turn of the Screw.