Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *
Cast: Samuel West, James Purefoy, Sally Orrock, Nicholas Murchie.
Honour those who find their inspiration in the darkest chapters of their life, for they have seen Hell and are still able to inform you of the dangers to come.
Charles Dickens’ tale of The Signalman is one of the most creative stories from the British writer, shorter than his other works of fiction, but one that gets to grips with the century’s fear of the technology of the time, the sense of dread that came with innovation, the sounds of machines.
It was perhaps always going to be someone of Charles Dickens’ literary stature that would write one of the true ghost stories that would transcend time, but if not the man who had already gained huge success with another ghostly tale in A Christmas Carol, then who, and who else would have suffered the agony and despair of loss of life as a survivor of a train crash himself, and felt the urgency, the desire to make sense of it one of the world’s foremost short stories.
The Signalman has been adapted many times, notably with Denholm Elliott, Bernard Lloyd, Reginald Jessup and Carina Wyeth in the 1976 film, however for true atmosphere, for the sense of reflecting the sense of fear that surrounds the machine then on radio, the facility to hear a voice in the same fashion that a spectre’s warning could be considered to be carried across time and space with no earthly connection, and in that sense the framing of Jonathan Holloway’s adaption is to be assured as one of the most dynamic, piercing, and unearthly devices to be heard.
The tension in the air is palpable, almost as if there is a force breaking through the disconnect, the unnatural comes alive. It is to Charles Dickens’ credit that he was able to write so elegantly, with absolute conviction the tale adapted, the train crash in Staplehurst is a reminder that writers are not born, but come to the public attention by careful observance and the ability to write through their pain.
Almost a two hander, with short interjections of character building, James Purefoy as Charles Dickens and Samuel West as the unnerved signalman capture the essence of the tale with dramatic insistence, the sound of human ignorance to the question of the beyond is insatiable, the panic, the terror, the realisation, all emotions are captured with fire in the actor’s hearts, and it makes for terrific listening.
The Signalman may have been adapted before, even leaned into inspiring others in the genre, however, arguably, it has never been produced in such a way that really digs down to heart of the source, and for that the creative team should be admired and praised fully.
Remember those that have been inspired by tragedy, for they are the true witness to observation and detail, and they come in short supply.
Ian D. Hall