Review: “Turn of the Screw” characters enhance unhinged, spooky portrayal

Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw, adapted into a two-person play onstage at Georgia Ensemble Theatre through November 13, has endured as one of the most popular ghost stories, in part because it provides no easy answers.

Nobody, save for James, definitively knows what happened at Bly Manor with that strange governess and those poor children, though readers have puzzled over it since 1898. Countless adaptations have been made from the material, and the Jeffrey Hatcher script here is fun and spooky, giving actress Christina Leidel a real showcase as the governess who perhaps descends into hysteria.

Is the governess haunted by spirits? Is she the victim of some children’s cruel pranks? Or is she simply mad?

Leidel, who appeared this summer as a sinister maid in Lizzie at Actor’s Express, often narrates her actions throughout the tale, shedding layers of costume and letting down her hair as the prim, repressed character becomes progressively more agitated.

While interviewing to become the caretaker for orphans Flora and Miles, the governess, who is unnamed, immediately develops romantic notions about the job and her prospective employer. She has a bit of an imagination and is eager for adventure, having grown up in a very religious household that suppressed her notions about love and sex.

Arriving at the manor, her fancies about the little family she has suddenly inherited take on sinister undertones when the housekeeper tells her the story of dead lovers Peter Quint and Miss Jessel, the previous guardians of the children who once had a doomed affair at the estate.

The show runs for 90 minutes without intermission, and Leidel is onstage for most of that time, running an emotional gamut that runs from maternal urges to lust to fear. The audience never sees what she sees, which adds to the effect. Even the youngest child, Flora, who never speaks, remains invisible on the stage, yet the governess leads her around, speaking sweetly to the girl.

Her scene partner, Daniel Thomas May, plays every other character in the narrative, transforming himself by voice, costume and stature every few minutes. It’s a terrific, chameleon-like performance. His characters feel infused with authentic emotion, rather than gimmicky kitsch. It doesn’t feel like a stunt. May is a seasoned stage actor, and this is excellent work.

Though the audience won’t have difficulty keeping track of the characters, the narrative itself gets a little confusing, particularly if this is your introduction to the ghost story. When the governess alternates between talking to herself, about herself and to invisible characters or unseen spirits, it can get hard to follow. But it also adds to the portrayal’s unhinged flavor. Leidel’s take on twisted spinsterhood is worth the price of admission.

The set design from Jamie Bullins is also spare, with an overturned chair, a desk and a large wooden staircase suggesting the massive house and the grounds. The lighting design from Elisabeth Cooper is terrific and creepy, particularly when the characters peer over the edge of the stage into a murky lake.

The Turn of the Screw is a weird and very minimalist show, and the lack of answers built into the story can be unsatisfying. But the performers are committed. And James Donadio’s direction deciphers the puzzle as best it can, leaning heavily into the modern feminist explanations of why the madhouses are filled with governesses.

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Benjamin Carr, a member of the American Theatre Critics Association, is an arts journalist and critic who has contributed to ArtsATL since 2019. His plays have been produced at The Vineyard Theatre in Manhattan, as part of the Samuel French Off-Off Broadway Short Play Festival, and the Center for Puppetry Arts. His novel Impacted was published by The Story Plant in 2021.