Last night, Nae and I went to see Kelly Mengelkoch and Josh Stamoolis in Jeffrey Hatcher's version of Henry James' The Turn of the Screw. It was Cincinnati Shakespeare Company's Halloween offering.

It can be a difficult play to perform, as it is a vehicle for two actors with very different requirements. The female lead needs to frequently interact with people who aren't there while the male lead plays several parts, ranging from the aristocratic and aloof Uncle of the children who hires the governess to the female housekeeper to the 10 year old boy who is... different.

The staging was minimal, nothing more than a covered wingback chair and a couple of raised spots to indicate stairs. The lighting was impeccable. Having worked minimally bare stages, I know the work it takes to get them to work as well as they did last night and my first props are to the entire crew at CincyShakes who set the scenes perfectly.

Then there was the play itself. 80 minutes, non-stop. One way to judge a play is to determine whether or not you notice the length of time. In a couple of weekends we'll be going to see Hamlet, which is being done in two and a half hours. I've been to performances of Hamlet where I have felt every dragging second of that play and I've been to those where I've not noticed time at all. And last night's 80 minutes seemed to take much less time than the 30 or so we were in our seats before the curtain figurativley rose.

Ms. Mengelkoch was perfect as the ingenue governess, somewhat smitten by the Uncle's request, filled with romantic notions of what was to come, starting as a dewey-eyed innocent who, over the course of the play became, well, harried? Crazed? Intense, is probably the best word. You could almost see the shy smile of Flora as the governess wanted to become her best friend; you could see, at the end, Flora's head shaking back and forth as the governess shook her in frustration. And, as her character went, in turns, through a dizzying array of emotions, Ms. Mengelkoch took us along for the ride, each spin around taking us imperceptibly higher until, at the climax of the play, we realize that we have come quite a ways in intensity and emotions seem almost palpable. At one point, when the governess is seeing a ghost and you could see the fear in Ms. Mengelkoch's eyes, Nae said she felt goosebumps rising along her arms.

And Mr. Stamoolis' performances were brilliant. His impeccable English Uncle, distant, aloof, mysterious. His housekeeper reminded me, for some reason, of Nanny from Count Duckula, but it fit the role. And his 10 year old Miles was an absolute delight, in turn whimsical and far too old for his age, having, as Mrs. Grose explained, "seen things". His maniacal skipping and deadpan foley effects made the play, from standing in the dark and whispering "footfall" as the governess read the Bible to a clock striking the hours.

And this is why I support CincyShakes over the Aronoff every time. While big musicals have their place (Broadway or Branson, for instance), regional theater provides the type of intimacy that let's you experience drama in a way that is far more effective, especially with two actors as talented as Ms. Mengelkoch and Mr. Stamoolis. 

All in all, it was a perfect roller-coaster ride through a ghost story. And, if you have a chance, go see it.