The countdown has started. The cast has been announced and rehearsals will be underway soon. Read all about Chelsey Gillard’s choice of production this autumn at the Torch Theatre. 

What is your reason for choosing The Turn of the Screw as the Torch Theatre’s autumn production?

I chose The Turn of the Screw because it is the absolute quintessential horror story, ghost story. The nights are drawing in already, and I think it's the perfect time for us all to gather around and tell ghost stories and to be a little bit spooked. It is the original ghost story. It has inspired so many adaptations, so many films and TV series, because it's just a brilliant story. It will have you on the edge of your seat as you try to work out what's going on. What can you believe and who can you trust? 

Turn of the Screw is a gothic horror story written 170 years ago and it’s influenced horror ever since. What are the lasting themes that we’ll see in this play?

So, because it's a ghost story, there will obviously be a haunting, but there is a lot in there about the Victorian era. So, we meet a young governess. She's very naïve, very innocent, who goes to look after two children at Bly Manor, which becomes our haunted house. And those children are a bit creepy, so there's some strangeness going on there. We also get to see two actors give an absolute tour de force performance. We have the incredibly talented Seren Vickers as the governess, and then Sam Freeman, who is a local actor, he's absolutely incredible. He went to the Torch Youth Theatre before he went off to train as a professional actor. You might recognise him from some of our previous shows. He actually has the challenge of playing all the other roles, and I cannot wait to see what he does.

Henry James was influenced by Edgar Allen Poe and Dickens, both of whom he met. What or who are your influences for this production?

Well, for this production, Henry James. When he wrote the original book, he was friends with and was really inspired by people like Charles Dickens. And as I mentioned earlier, The Turn of the Screw has inspired so, so many adaptations. I've been watching a lot of those, The Haunting of Bly Manor and The Haunting of Hill House, which are brilliant TV series. The Others and The Innocents, which are two really famous films, are also inspired by the story. But I've been re-reading some of my favourite gothic horror and gothic era novels like Wuthering Heights, which is an absolute classic, and then the more modern kind of horror films like Parasite and Saltburn. I've been watching and reading a lot of those things to get me in the mood for this show.

And finally, will things go bump in the night? 

Absolutely they will.. And so, stay safe and make sure you've got your tickets booked.

The Turn of the Screw will appear on the Torch Theatre stage for a two week stint from Wednesday 8 October to Saturday 25 October. Tickets: £18-£28. BSL: Tuesday 14 October. Book tickets via the website torchtheatre.co.uk / Box Office: 01646 695267 or click here.