It’s 1863 and a girl (Ria Zmitrowicz) sits alone in the dark, windowless cell of an asylum, unsure how long she’s been there or how she got there. Enter Mrs Lyall (Rakie Ayola), clutching a lamp that brings a slight wash of light to the murky stage (although you still have to squint). A “writer, social thinker and spiritualist medium of some renown”, Mrs Lyall’s been looking for an accomplice to help with her work – a “passive” woman who she can summon the spirits through. Who better than the nameless, unspeaking creature twitching before her?
Alistair McDowall’s latest offering is properly bold stuff. The Glow is an epic that presents the supernatural as a violent, yet often funny thing – but as soon as you think you’ve accepted what it’s about, the play shifts unrecognisably. A true game of two halves, it’s one of those theatre experiences that would benefit from multiple watches to dull all the head scratching.
