I did not know much about this production before I entered the theatre apart from that it was a ghost story of sorts and that it had a great cast. It was safe to say I was going into this performance blind, which is sometimes the best way to go into something.
The story is set in the Second World War begins with two ghosts setting the scene of who is who in the story and how they are all involved with each other. There is Christopher, a small boy, who has been sent far away from home to live with his Aunt after his father's plane was shot down.
His Aunt owns the lifehouse and it is all she has known all her life and has only her mysterious Japanese Housekeeper for company. Then the final character we are introduced to is the sheriff and we are asked is there for justice or something else instead. In fact the only back stories we don't get right of the back is the stories of the two ghosts but more becomes clearer as the story progresses, complete with many twists and turns.
As I said before I was aware of the cast before I went in and I wasn't disappointed. The two ghosts were played by Niamh Perry and Simon Bailey, who were perfect for the roles as they mixed the eerie slightly creepy manner of a ghost that you expect but also have a slightly warped comedic element to their characters. The Sheriff was played by Simon Lipkin, who in my eyes can do no wrong in anything he does. To complete the six person cast, there was the brilliant Dianne Pilkington, Nicholas Goh and Fisher Costello-Rose, who all acted their socks off.
The music in this show helps progress the story on and there is a few reprises of certain songs to help explain more of the story further. The music is written by Duncan Sheik, the genius behind Spring Awakening and you can tell his influence on the piece with the rock like musical songs, which are rather catchy and definitely worth listening to.
The staging of this production is rather interesting in the way that it is effectively a circular stage with a sunken middle. I feel like this is done to portray the lighthouse which is at the centre of the story but that is only my opinion. I feel it worked for this musical because it helped to highlight the different levels of the lighthouse and also help separate certain parts of the story to other part.
My favourite parts of the play included Simon Lipkin's sheriff character's lasagna line (he explains that a ghost story is like a lasagne in that it has layers as do lasagna..it was funnier than I'm explaining I promise) and Niamh's facial expressions, which were brillant to watch throughout, she gave the female ghost's character a slightly twisted but amusing in equal measures
I would definitely recommend checking Whisper House, if you are able to before it closes in a week on the 27th of May.
Have you seen Whisper House? What did you think?
Don't forget to watch the review below.
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