Theater Review: The Turn of the Screw

                     The Turn of the Screw

There’s Henry James. There’s Jeffrey Hatcher. There’s a play called “The Turn of the Screw.” 

Then there’s the Chalk Circle Collective, a group that at the moment is all and none of these things at the same time. 

Chalk Circle Collective  is currently performing at Hillcrest’s Diversionary Theatre in its version of Hatcher and James’ versions of the well-known play “The Turn of the Screw.”

But this is theater like no other you or I have ever seen. Rather than well-rehearsed lines, it rather emphasizes noises and sounds made on instruments well known for what we used to call music. Or simply made by the human voice in ways unfamiliar to most of us.

There’s a plot of sorts. The two characters are a governess (played by Megan Carmitchel) and “The Man,” unidentified by name but brilliantly (and sometimes scarily) performed by Michael Cusimano.

The governess appears to be younger than The Man, and she seems to be interested in him as a potential friend or even closer. He, on the other hand, appears to be in a different universe, and not a human one.

There is no adequate way to write a traditional review of this piece, and I’m not even going to try. Suffice it to say that the piece is fascinating, scary, sometimes funny and utterly absorbing in ways I never thought possible.