It’s cut off from the outside world by its remote location, shunned by all who know its forbidding and sinister reputation.
Hill House has stood empty for many years – but its isolation is broken by the arrival of Dr. Montague, an investigator of supernatural phenomena who intends to delve into the morbid history of the house.
That’s the premise of The Haunting of Hill House, the drama adapted by F. Andrew Leslie from the novel by Shirley Jackson. Vagabond Players are bringing the chilling drama to the stage at Bernie Legge Theatre from Oct. 4 to 27.
The play’s action follows the arrival of a small group of visitors, led by Montague, who come to probe its secrets – and who are made uneasy by strange and eerie occurrences until the evil forces of Hill House are goaded to a new and fatal fury.
The cast is led by Roger Monk as Dr. Montague and Elizabeth Drummond as Eleanor Vance, a shy young woman who becomes deeply affected by the occult forces that have made the house uninhabitable. Alex Ross is Luke Sanderson, the young heir to Hill House, and Bev Pride is Mrs. Montague, a woman as deeply committed to communicating with the spirits as her husband is.
The cast is rounded out by Celeste Musseau as the free-spirited Theodora, Bill McNaughton as Mrs. Montague’s assistant, Arthur, and Alison Main-Tourneur as Mrs. Dudley, the dour caretaker who always goes home before nightfall.
The Haunting of Hill House is onstage at the Bernie Legge Theatre, Queen’s Park, from Oct. 4 to 27, Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. Tickets are $17, or $15 for seniors and youth, with $12 previews on Oct. 4 and 5.
Tickets are available through www.vagabondplayers.ca or 604-521-0412.
