Friday March 29, 2024
UNHOLY GHOSTS
Review

UNHOLY GHOSTS

By Polly Simons
September 3 2014

UNHOLY GHOSTS, White Box Theatre and Griffin Independent at the SBW Stables Theatre, 27 August – 20 September 2014. Photography by Danielle Lyonne: above: James Lugton. Right: James Lugton and Anna Volska.

There’s a fine line between laughter and tears, and playwright Campion Decent navigates it expertly in his semi-autobiographical new work, Unholy Ghosts. 

At the heart of the play is “Son” (James Lugton), a 40-something playwright suddenly staring down the abyss of losing his estranged parents to cancer.

His relationship with them is not easy: his mother (Anna Volska, in her first stage role for a decade) is an alcoholic former star of stage and radio who gave up her career for children, and has lamented her choice publicly ever since. His father (Robert Alexander) is a bitter and cynical salesman with little time for his son’s homosexuality or his career choices.

Yet, there’s humour in there too, not just in the sharp observations of Campion Decent’s script but in the small moments familiar to anyone who has experienced the death of a loved one: in the funny memories that suddenly ambush you at odd times and the quirks of personality that, after a lifetime of irritation, suddenly become endearing.

It’s this universality that makes it the play so moving, despite the individuality of the characters involved – and it causes more than a few muffled sobs behind me.

Directed with a light hand by Kim Hardwick, the performances are all excellent. As the mother, Anna Volska is magnificent: vain, manipulative, dangerously charming and every inch the grand theatre dameRobert Alexander is equally good –although considerably less charming – as the father who, after a lifetime of pushing people away, suddenly has a change of heart. If his final transition from cranky old bastard to repentant sinner seems a little too convenient, we forgive him instantly because we can see how much he is hurting.

UNHOLY GHOSTS

As Son, James Lugton has perhaps the most difficult role, narrating the story and acting as the foil to those more dominant personalities. Nonetheless, he puts in a finely-calibrated performance, conveying the grief, pain and confusion that is inevitable to such a soul-destroying situation while never detracting from those around him.

It’s curious then that Decent would choose to undercut everything he has worked so hard to achieve in the final moments of the play, which are a tribute to the importance of non-biological family – the partners and friends you choose to surround yourself with.

It’s a lovely thought – and a reassuring one after such an emotional rollercoaster – but it’s odd to bring it to the table at this point, after the last 85 minutes have been spent reflecting on the lessons of life and death our parents can teach us.

 

 

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