Along with joyous comedies and poignant love stories full of festive cheer, productions with a tinge of suspense and horror are also perfect for Christmas. In this Christmas season, The Mystery of Fellstone Manor, a play written by Jude Emmet and directed by Simon Rudkin also arrives, bringing more winter chills to the audience.
It’s Christmas time in the 19th century, Lucy arrives at her fiancé Tristan’s ancestral home, Fellstone Manor, full of joy in preparation for their wedding. However, things don’t go as smoothly as she hoped. Since arriving at the manor, strange things keep happening, and all of them have something to do with Julia, Tristan’s ex-wife, who died a year earlier. When Lucy plays Julia’s piano, she immediately feels uncomfortable; strange noises are coming from Julia’s dressing room; and there are ghostly figures that look like Julia in the manor... What’s even weirder is that Lucy gradually discovers that her appearance resembles Julia terribly. It makes her wonder if Tristan truly loves her or if he simply sees her as a substitute for Julia.
One of the things that makes this play quite special is that the story isn’t told exactly in order. Act I tells the story of Julia and Tristan’s childhood, Act II is about Lucy’s arrival at the manor, Act III takes place before Julia’s death, and Act IV happens three years after Lucy’s arrival at the manor. However, since the childhood story is explained in the first act, it would make the later stories less suspenseful. It would have been more intriguing if it had started with Lucy’s arrival and then slowly delved into the past of the manor.
The stage set (Gareth Williams) is very flexible. Most of the time, there is only a piano and a door covered in black cloth placed on the stage to represent Julia’s dressing room. The actors bring the set such as a table, chairs, a carpet and a carriage onto the stage before they go on, transforming the stage into different environments at any given time. When the lights dim, the floor is lit up with little blue dots of light, as if it is the lake at the manor. The characters’ costumes (Sarah Andrews) also add to the play, not only are the costumes designed to fit the period, but they are also well in keeping with the characters’ personalities. During the play, sometimes gloomy music (Martin Choules) plays in the background, and sometimes, Julia’s laughter can also be heard, making the atmosphere even spookier.
Although the performances of the actors are a little more externalised because of the subject matter, most of the acting is still very convincing. Greta Azzopardi’s portrayal of the characters stands out in particular. As Lucy, she is pure, kind and compassionate. But she seems to be a completely different person when playing Julia. With a different walking posture and habitual expression, though capricious and emotionally unstable, her Julia is still somewhat adorable.
Overall, while the setting of this story is something that can hook the viewer, it’s not complicated in nature, and once one understands the cause of the series of events, it’s really more about the emotions of the characters that get people’s attention. However, this production could have had more to dig into in terms of the characters’ relationships and emotions as well. If it could have been refined a bit more, then it would have not only brought a bit of suspense to the Christmas season but also left people with something more poignant.
The Mystery of Fellstone Manor runs at The Questors Theatre until 30th December 2024. For more information and tickets, you can follow the link here.
★★★☆☆ (3*)
Gifted tickets in return for an honest review | Photography by Jamie Gould
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