By Lois Sherlow
Special to the Western Star
Since 2012, at Halloween, School Zone Productions of St. John’s have presented episodes of the iconic sixties TV show “The Twilight Zone”, adapted for the stage by Christopher Tobin. Three new episodes, the fifth volume, premiered last November at the Barbara Barrett Theatre. They ran again in February. Clearly School Zone has a winning theatrical formula here. Now the Corner Brook audience at the Drama Festival has been treated to this polished and gripping evening of suspense, terror, and even a lesson or two.
The three stories are directed skillfully, with stylistic flourish by Fabian O’Keefe and Frankie O’Neill. Impressive sets and lighting design are by Jamie Skidmore. The acting ensemble delivers lightly campy yet compelling performances. The familiar musical theme is there on an old black and white TV, with Serling’s solemn commentary on the ways of modern mankind to guide us. This after all takes us back to post-war memories and Cold War paranoia.
In “The Thirty Fathom Grave,” a naval crew finding a US submarine sunk by the Japanese in WWII. Chief Mate Bell is traumatized, in fact haunted, when insistent knocking is heard from the sub. It emerges that he was the only survivor when it went down. His terror is in fact his guilt. The story shows what the mind can do to itself.
A high-speed set change leads us to an elegant home for “The Shelter,” about a doctor who has built a bomb shelter but, when the radio announces that UFOs are coming, will not allow neighbours to share it with his little family. Uncivilized responses ensue, including a xenophobic attack on a Russian professor. “It’s not fair!” the neighbours cry. Serling reminds us this is “an exercise in logic”—survival depends on humans not behaving like wild animals.
The third episode is “The Fear.” Charlotte, a fashion editor who had a breakdown in New York (Michelle Lambert, strongly reminiscent of Bette Davis at her haughty and highstrung best) is joined by State Trooper Franklin (Chris Panting), stoic and sensible, to deal with the strange lights that appear outside her cabin. Franklin’s memories of Omaha Beach and dying comrades are contrasted with imaginary fears picked up from sci-fi stories.
The stagecraft of the build in tension in “The Fear” is highly effective and the ending is a delight. It caps a fast-paced evening that reminds us of how we love to surrender to a good scary story well-told.
