Floating between a period piece and experimental drama, a theatrical adaptation of Henry James' classic novella "The Turn of the Screw," will open today in Swain Hall.
The play, directed by Derek Goldman, is being staged by the Chapel Hill-based StreetSigns Center for Literature and Performance.
The story follows a governess as she is hired to raise an orphaned brother and sister whose caretakers recently have died.
Upon her arrival at the caretakers' estate, the governess begins to see their ghosts. She is afraid they have come for the children, and her attempts to save the orphans spiral tragically.
Goldman said bringing James' work to the stage will bring out the story's deeper levels and allow the audience to explore them in a way reading might not allow.
"I have always thought that this type of staging could bring out the many distinct interpretations in a sense of what's going on, heightening the mystery and the questions at the heart of the story," he said.
He said he has highlighted the question of whether the ghosts haunting the estate are real by changing the ways in which the audience sees them. The ghosts will be represented by real actors as well as through projected film images.
Goldman said he has tried to remain faithful to James' text but with the goal in mind of bringing a modern feel to the production.
"The scenery feels less like a period piece from the Victorian age but more like we are inside (the governess') mind," he said.
