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Turn of the Screw

Turn of the Screw , adapted for four actors from Henry James’ famous ghost story, was produced by Dermot McLaughlin, the Mercury Theatre Colchester and Wolverhampton Grand in Spring 2018 and toured the UK in 2018 and 2019.

 

The play is published by Bloomsbury, and a twenty-one-page review of the adaptation was published in Neo-Victorian Studies. An article by the adaptor called "Dealing with ambiguity in adapting Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw" was published in The Henry James Review (2019).

Luscombe’s version is dense with cunning, detailed dialogue.

Charles Hutchinson, yorkpress.co.uk

Tim Luscombe’s adaptation is slick and masterly.

Angie Millard, yorkmix.com

The script has been adapted by Tim Luscombe, framing it as a flashback, which serves to enhance the ‘are-they-real-or-is-she-delusional’ subtext.

Ian Douglas, Leftlion

If my cardiologist knew I was going, she might have stepped in to stop it — and with good reason: there’s never a moment when you can truly sit back and be at ease. Adaptor Tim Luscombe [gives] us a 21st century slant with the filter of psychoanalysis

Mike Rowbottom, Henley Standard

A superb leap-out-of-your-seat and watch-you-don’t-spill-your-wine thriller as the narrative weaves dizzily backwards and forwards in time.

The re-imagining is heavy on the thrills and chills (at any moment I could be found perched on the edge of my seat or jumping out of my skin) but they aren’t cheap. The careful subtleties and nuances guide a deeply thought-provoking production.

Sally Wilson, smallcitybigpersonality.co.uk

***** (5 stars)

Turn of the Screw (stage adaptation by Tim Luscombe) is a mind twisting, otherworldly five star hit.

Very intelligently written by theatre stalwart Tim Luscombe.

A meticulously presented evening of ghostly goings on written in a scintillating spooky style [that] stays with one long after the performance.

Philip Lowe, eastmidlandstheatre.com

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