Managed to catch Haunting Julia at The Mercury in Colchester. An Alan Ayckbourne ghost story, it’s not necessarily what the playwright is best known for. Although there are a few laughs, they are mainly incidental and the tension builds subtly over some crisp dialogue and ruminations on the pressure of early fame and competitive but well meaning parents.
Duncan Preston, Joe McFadden and, especially, Richard O’Callaghan are all excellent in this three hander (just as well really) and I am astonished to announce that quite early on I sussed out that the title referred as much to the haunting of Julia by the three protagonists as it did to any more conventional reading. Each had their own reasons to have been severely troubled by her death and it was only by acknowledging and accepting them that Julia’s spirit was finally freed from their unintentional clutches.