A thought-provoking Victorian ghost story set in a gothic seaside residence. A scary, thrilling and entertaining production that gets the audience jumping and gasping. 

Like all great ghost stories, Michael Punter’s Darker Shores strikes a balance between telling a story and maintaining a sense of suspense and disbelief. Wonderful acting, impressive special effects, eerie lighting, ethereal noises and a clever use of darkness brilliantly combine to create some very frightening moments throughout the show.

Christmas in the mid-1870s. Darwin denier and natural scientist Professor Gabriel Stokes (Maxwell Caulfield) is mourning the loss of his wife and young son. He takes lodgings and hides himself away from the joy of the festive season at a cold and draughty guest house. He is distracted from writing his article debunking Darwin by a series of disturbing sounds and smells - and a ‘presence’ for which he cannot find a rational explanation.

Despite his religious beliefs preventing him from believing in the paranormal, Stokes enlists the support of American spiritualist Tom Beauregard (played here by understudy Will Beynon rather than Michael Praed). Stokes recounts the story of his stay at The Sea House and the ghostly sounds and visions that disturbed him while he was there. He revisits the lodging, with Beauregard, to attempt to understand exactly what he had experienced previously, using seances to try to connect with the dead. Matters are complicated by the housekeeper, Mrs Hinchcliffe (Maxwell Caulfield’s real-life wife, Juliet Mills), who evidently knows more than she’s letting on, and the maid, Florence Kennedy (Chipo Kureya).

Stokes quite rightly challenges Beauregard’s psychic abilities, and Beauregard quickly discovers he has taken on more of a spiritual challenge than he had bargained for. It transpires that the maid has a genuine talent for second sight, and all four characters are haunted by the regret of past tragedies. As the second act concludes, secrets are divulged, truths told, and all manner of goings-on reveal themselves.

Four stars

Reviewed by Sue Hull at Malvern Theatres on Monday 21 November. Darker Shores continues to show at the venue until Saturday 26 November.