“No other entry in the Philadelphia Fringe Festival achieves a degree of darkness — literal or figurative — as deep as The Turn of the Screw. As the lights grew ever dimmer and silhouettes danced on the walls of the Proscenium at the Drake, I got chills. Cihocki’s production shows what magic theater can achieve with just the bare necessities: an almost bare stage, a fascinating story, and two superb actors.” –Phindie

A provocative tale of suspense, horror and repressed sexuality, The Turn of the Screw is a ghost story originally penned by Henry James in 1898, adapted for the stage by Jeffrey Hatcher. It is not a tale for the faint of heart, but a tale for the brave who can stand to wait it out in the dark.

__

Leila and Pantea Productions is proud to present The Turn of the Screw, adapted for stage by Jeffrey Hatcher. Based on the provocative tale of suspense, horror and repressed sexuality, this adaptation gives the famous story yet another turn of its own. A young governess journeys to a lonely English manor house to care for two recently orphaned children. But she is not their first governess. Her predecessor, Miss Jessel, drowned herself when she became pregnant by the sadistic valet, Peter Quint, who was himself found dead soon after under mysterious circumstances. Now the new governess has begun to see the specters of Quint and Jessel haunting the children, and she must find a way to stop the fiends before it is too late. But one frightening question tortures the would-be heroine: Are the ghosts real, or are they the product of her own fevered imagination? “In his thoughtful adaptation of Henry James’ spooky tale, Jeffrey Hatcher does away with the supernatural flummery, exchanging the story’s balanced ambiguities about the nature of reality for a portrait of psychological vampirism.” The Boston Globe. “The key word is imagination. In this beautifully executed adaptation . . . the audience [is] forced, through subtly ambiguous shadings, to vividly project what is cleverly left unseen and unspoken. A dazzling act of the imagination. Mr. Hatcher has pushed James’ clever turn to its furthest degree.” The New York Times.

Director Candace Cihocki Actors Bob Stineman and Corinna Burns Dramaturg Bill Brady Tech Aaron Lathrop, Leila Ghaznavi, Margot Smith

Website Facebook

$10-$15 / 75 minutes

Read the FringeArts Blog interview with producer Leila Ghaznavi HERE.