A solid final scream doesn't make this slight play haunt the memory.
To call Alan Ayckbourn prolific is to undersell what is an astonishing breadth of work. With over seventy plays competing for attention it's small wonder that one or two of them are less than memorable and, unfortunately, 'Haunting Julia' definitely fails to scare like a good ghost story should.
Set some years after a young and very gifted musician has taken her own life, the play sets about exploring the various ways something can be haunted. Individuals are haunted by their grief, guilt or gifts. The building where the tragedy took place is both seemingly haunted by the spirit itself and also by the fact that it's been turned into a museum. Even the words of Julia haunt the play by being repeated on a loop over the exhibit.
All of this could be quite chilling but the setting never seems quite cold enough, the characters don't appear sufficiently panicked until too late and the sequence of long explanations of each relationship with the titular Julia saps a lot of the tension from the occasional scares.
Dominic Hecht is a suitably disbelieving rationalist as Andy as shocked by the existence of the museum as the ghost that inhabits it. And Christopher Timothy is a bluff and plain-speaking Joe but probably over plays some of the panic just a little. Richard O'Callaghan seemed a little weak as Ken, a little too fay.
However all this good work can't cover the fact that the ending, while well done, just doesn't seem worth the build up - more a mild draft than a proper gust from the depths of hell. It might have been worth sticking with a one act structure since the interval reduced some of the impact that a straight run through would have achieved.
All in all, not a complete misfire but definitely not enough to keep you awake at night.
Bill Count: 2
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