15/08/23

Pleasance Courtyard (Above), Edinburgh

M R James’s short story Casting The Runes is a classic British chiller, and one that has been adapted for stage many times (and even into a film in Jacques Tourneur’s 1953 Night of the Demon). Theatre company Box Tale Soup have taken up the gauntlet and present us with this slick and brilliantly-designed production, which utilises a range of cleverly-constructed props and some fabulous puppetry, all created by the central duo, Noel Byrne and Antonia Christophers.

Edward Dunning (Byrne) thinks himself an expert on the supernatural – or rather, he has devoted his life to debunking it at every opportunity. So of course, he has repeatedly ignored the approaches of a certain Mr Karswell, who is eager for Dunning to have a look at his latest opus, a book about witchcraft. But then Dunning is approached by Rebecca Harrington (Christophers), sister of the literary critic, John Harrington, who was reckless enough to give Karswell’s previous literary efforts a bad review – only to meet with a mysterious and horrible death shortly afterwards.

When Dunning begins to receive some very odd items in the post and then an eerie book is handed to him by Karswell himself, he begins to realise that something is amiss – and that he is in serious danger of suffering the same fate as Harrington…

This is an ingeniously-designed production, where even the scene transitions are meticulous and intriguing enough to become an integral part of the show. The costumes, the props and the set are all treated with the same attention to detail, embellished with little flourishes that echo the runic theme.

It could be argued that there may actually be a bit too much focus on the transitions here, especially when some of the scenes are so brief – and that the script (much like the original story, published in 1911) does an awful lot of telling and not enough showing. But Byrne, Christophers and their bizarre puppet co-stars all submit sterling performances, while director Adam Lensing does an impressive job of racking up the steadily-mounting air of apprehension.

I’m perhaps a little too familiar with the story for my own good and am therefore denied the wonderful twist at the end, but this is an assured production from a talented and very idiosyncratic company. Judging by the sold-out house and the enthusiastic applause, the rest of the audience agrees with me.

4.2 stars

Philip Caveney