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If all had gone to plan in 1994, Alan
Ayckbourn and his company would have moved to the new Stephen Joseph Theatre
and presented Haunting Julia in the end-stage McCarthy auditorium.
But when the move was delayed until 1996, Alan decided to stage his latest
play at the Stephen Joseph Theatre In The Round.
He was inspired by the success of The Woman In Black, which had
premiered at the theatre (adapted by Stephen Mallatratt from Susan Hill’s
novella) before becoming a fixture of the West End. Alan wondered whether he
could write a ghost story for the stage. Within this genre, the play also
explored what being extraordinarily gifted can do to a child and their
family, as well as asking how people come to terms with unexpected loss.
As Alan has noted, the ghost story became slightly lost as he became more
interested in the relationships of the three men to Julia. It was still a
ghost story, but one permeated by Alan’s themes. The result is an intimate
exploration of the relationships between men and women and fathers and
daughters, given all the more impact by featuring just three men. One of the
other features of the play, which is largely ignored, is it is only the
second of Alan’s plays to be set in real-time (the first being Absent
Friends).
The one act play opened in 1994 at the Stephen Joseph Theatre In The Round.
Written for the end-stage, it was an unsatisfactory production in the round
and did not fulfil its potential.
As was becoming increasingly common with Alan’s plays, reviews were
polarised. Half the reviews extremely positive; half resoundingly negative.
Arguably, critics were now divided between those who appreciated Alan’s
increasing experiments with form and use of fantasy elements to explore
his themes, while others begrudged this and wanted a return to the ‘social
realism’ of his early plays. The negative reviewers criticised the play for
not being realistic(!) and found fault with elements of the
casting.
The play did not go on to London and Alan did not allow it to be published.
It was an unsatisfactory end for a play which obviously had potential. In
1999, Alan revived it in the McCarthy at the Stephen Joseph Theatre. In the
end-stage with an extremely strong cast of
experienced Ayckbourn actors, the play became a more satisfying experience.
The set-pieces were more effective and the play’s themes held their own
against the supernatural elements of the play. The play had one notable
change with the inclusion of an interval - apparently at the behest of the
theatre accountants who had seen a drop in bar income during the original
production. When the play was
published, this change was not included and the integrity of the one act
version restored and made canon; Haunting Julia was written as and is
intended to be played as a one act play.
The play went on a successful tour and it was hoped the play would go on to
London, although this did not happen. In 2005, another major touring
production was planned but again did not come to fruition. In the same year,
the script was finally published by Faber as part of Alan Ayckbourn: Plays 3.
In 2004, Alan wrote Snake In The Grass, a ghost story with three
women. Alan has said the two plays are companion pieces with a father
haunted by (or haunting) his daughter in one and two daughters haunted by
their father in the other. A chance to see these plays together, alongside a
new third supernatural play Life And Beth, was offered during the
summer of 2008 when Alan's three plays were presented in the Things That
Go Bump season at the Stephen Joseph Theatre. The 2008
revival of Haunting Julia was directed by Richard Derrington, who
played Ken in the 1999 revival of the play. The production saw Ian Hogg and
Adrian McLoughlin reprising the roles they created in the original
production and featured a more ambiguous interpretation of the play
suggesting the manifestation of Julia may have been more a product of Joe's
obsession rather than a real ghost (although this is a valid interpretation
and the play has always been ambiguous as to what actually happens at the
climax). Well-received, the production toured to
the New Victoria theatre, Newcastle-under-Lyme, following the Scarborough
season.
Copyright: Simon Murgatroyd 2009 |
