14 Thursday May 2020
A few days ago, on the phone, Nina the Director asked how how I would like to adapt for the stage a certain, very famous ghost story.
“Oh,” I said. “That one. I’ve had it on my Kindle for ages, and never quite mustered the courage to read it…” Continue reading
04 Thursday Jan 2018
So on New Year’s Eve Canterville went very well – or so I believe, because I spent a good chunk of it in the green room, discussing Emma Rice’s tenure at the Globe with Nina and her husband… From there we could hear the audience laughing heartily through the intercom, though, and there were no funny stories afterwards, so I’m pretty sure that all went well… Continue reading
28 Saturday Nov 2015
“Why don’t you write us something about a local ghost story?” I was asked back in June.
And why not indeed… Only, when I set about researching, I found that my unimaginative hometown only has one official ghost.
Agnese Visconti was one of the many daughters of the Prince of Milan. Plain, sickly and waspish, she was married off very young to handsome Francesco Gonzaga, only son and heir to the de facto Lord of Mantova. It wasn’t what you’d call a happy marriage – but then nobody expected it to be – and it produced only one daughter.
Then Agnese’s father was murdered by an ambitious nephew, Gian Galeazzo Visconti, and things went truly downhill. Agnese decided she wanted revenge, and began working with her exiled brother to get back Milan… Continue reading
01 Saturday Nov 2014
Posted in Books
How do you like your ghost stories?
Myself, I like them before sunset, thank you very much…
Ludicrous, you think? Maybe – but I’ve had a few sleep-killing experiences, including the short story collection I read while staying in my Fifteenth Century college’s guest-rooms. Considering that no one else slept there at the moment, considering the long, dark and deserted corridors I had to walk to get there, considering the gloomy November nights… well yes, perhaps ghost-reading after dark was not the smartest of ideas.
Anyway, let’s do something seasonal, shall we? I found these interesting book recommendations over at The Reading Room: The Woman in Black has been on my Kindle for years now – and some bright summer day I’m going to tackle it – and quite a few of the others sound very promising.
And, while we are there, why not try a few classic M.R. James stories, courtesy of the Project Gutenberg?
After dark, read at your own peril.
