From the train’s misted windows we see fields still covered with snow, rooks perching on skeletal trees, the wide sky clouded grey. It’s noticeably colder than London as we leave the train at Huntingdon; coats and scarves are wrapped tighter as we scan the map looking for the quickest route to the bus station. Failing to find this we meander into Huntingdon under the path of a circling raptor.

We’ve missed the bus to Hemingford by ten minutes; the next one is not due for another hour and a half. We dismiss getting a taxi and instead decide to investigate the sites of Huntingdon which it would seem, number very few. A noticeable exception to this is the wonderful one-room Cromwell Museum with its assortment of portraits, artefacts, standards and other Cromwelliana.

We arrive in Hemingford Grey just before five o’clock, the light fast disappearing. Bring a torch we were warned but only now I remember as we make our way to the Willow Guest House. We’re here for the Nunkie Theatre Company’s performance of two M.R. James stories: “Lost Hearts” and “A Warning to the Curious” at Hemingford Grey Manor, Lucy Boston’s Green Knowe in her series of stories written between 1954 and 1976.

“Lost Hearts” is one of my favourite of James’ stories but perhaps an unusual one in its dealings with folklore and pagan ritual; subjects which the writer of ghost stories would do well to treat with caution James warned. Both stories presented tonight are to an extent coloured by my memories of the 1970s film adaptations; in themselves suitably chilling but missing some of the elements of the originals: in the case of “A Warning…” not only its building sense of tension as Paxton becomes aware of his fate but also its violence:

“His mouth was full of sand and stones, and his teeth and jaws were broken to bits. I only glanced once at his face.”

During the interval we’re provided with glasses of mulled wine and chat with other James aficionados in our host’s bedroom adjoining the performance room.

Chilled by both the stories and the temperature in our temporary Norman theatre we head back into the dark, stopping off for drinks and a few more James-related discussions with two members of a Ghostly Company in the nearby Cock pub. They are staying for tomorrow’s performance of “The Ash Tree” and “Oh Whistle…” which sadly we don’t have tickets for. However we hope to return for the next round of performances; Hemingford Grey is Nunkie’s favourite venue and after tonight it’s easy to see why.

Hopefully, we shall return before too long.

I’ve just returned from seeing the Nunkie Theatre Company’s production of M.R. James’ Oh Whistle and I’ll Come to You, My Lad and The Ash Tree at the Barons Court Theatre — a charming tiny theatre in the basement of the The Curtain’s Up pub.

The two stories are related by RM Lloyd Parry, in full James garb on a minimal stage set (if indeed you could call it that) of chair, table, whisky bottle, candles, books and papers. The only lighting throughout the production comes from the candles which creates an authentic backdrop for the stories — you can almost imagine yourself a guest in James’ rooms in Kings College.

Parry plays a convincing James, a slightly stuffy and distracted academic but consummate story-teller, revelling in scaring his audience. The pacing of the story-telling is perfect, an occasional desk-slamming or book-dropping highlighting a particularly dramatic moment. However, as with James’ stories, the key is understatement, therefore there are no off-stage sound or lighting effects.

Knowing (and loving) the stories as well as I do, it can be easy to forget how disturbing they actually are. Particularly, Oh Whistle…, with its setting on a bleak wintertime Suffolk coastline and building sense of dread.

Well, wonderful stuff and good news about future productions –  I notice from the back of the programme that Count Magnus is planned for Winter 2009.

My new year’s hangover was eased somewhat today by drinking tea, eating crumpets and watching The Innocents (Jack Clayton, 1961) on the 2006 DVD release of the film by the BFI.

This was the second time I’ve seen the film, the first being a screening at the BFI a couple of years back. It’s a remarkable film, from its John Mortimer and Truman Capote scripted screenplay and eerie black and white cinematography to the performances of the actors — Deborah Kerr as the repressed governess and Martin Stephens and Pamela Franklin as the precocious children, Miles and Flora. Considering the children were 12 and 8 respectively, their performances are particularly impressive, given the amount of dialogue they have.

For anyone who hasn’t seen the film, it’s an adaptation of Henry James’ Turn of the Screw in which a young, sheltered governess takes charge of two orphaned children in a country house. The governess is soon visited by apparitions of the deceased previous governess and her lover. As with the novel there is an amount of ambiguity as to whether these are “real” ghosts or they exist only in her imagination.

One of the DVD extras is an introduction to the film by Christopher Frayling which highlighted some details I’d missed, like the recurring imagery of “paradise decaying”: the shots of roses loosing their leaves, insects crawling from statues’ mouths and Flora’s opening gambit to her new governess in the garden, introducing her pet tortoise, “do you like reptiles?”.

One of the strongest things about the film for me is the way it builds and maintains its mood and atmosphere without any recourse to special effects. Early on in the film where Miss Giddens catches her first glimpse of Quint in broad daylight, the background noise of birdsong simply stops. When she sees the ghost of her predecessor, Miss Jessel, we see the spectre in the distance across the lake, slightly indistinct. Freddie Francis’ cinematography really makes the film — many of the shots feature blurred edges (created by special filters and painting the edges of the lenses, apparently) which add to the feeling of glimpsing things from the corner of an eye.

This edition is really worth getting hold of if it’s still available (The BFI DVDs tend to have limited release periods). The accompanying booklet provides a lot more background information on the film and we also get the original US trailer which shows how difficult it was to market the film. The trailer tries to tread a line between suggesting the film is both a supernatural film for adults and a traditional horror, with a tagline along the lines of “do they come back to haunt the living?” being displayed between clips. Rather bizarrely, the trailer also shows the very end of the film which does give things away somewhat. Also included is Clayton’s first film as director, The Bespoke Overcoat (1955), another ghost story based on Gogol’s story The Overcoat.

Tumbledown cottage, originally uploaded by reynard.

I’ve just watched Crooked House, Mark Gatiss’ fantastic ghost story trilogy, courtesy of BBC iPlayer.

The stories centred on the goings-on in a stately home from the Eighteenth Century through to the Twenty-first, and were all brought together with a suitably ghoulish ending.

Gatiss is clearly well versed in the genre and a genuine fan; there was certainly no attempt at mocking or subverting it. The first two stories were told as tales by a mysterious museum curator (Gatiss) to an teacher (Ben, played by Lee Ingelby) who becomes the unwitting protagonist in the final story. Gatiss seems to have taken heed of M.R. James’ advice that the most effective ghost stories are those set (as well as in this case, related) in the author’s own time, thereby avoiding the pitfalls of descending into cliché and parody (as I thought Gatiss did to an extent in the one book of his I’ve read The Devil in Amber).

I’ve just returned from a week in Pembrokeshire. Here are some photos.

It’s maybe not surprising that music from a year from winter’s collection often turns up in films, radio or television. This Christmas we’ve had a bit of the Christian Wallumrød Ensemble — I think ‘Wedding Postponed’ from A Year from Easter as the background music for an advert for Radio 4’s serialisation of A Christmas Carol.

Much  stranger however, is the use of Godspeed You! Black Emperor in the background for the trailer for the BBC’s new production of the 39 Steps. I was under the impression that Godspeed were quite particular about their music being used (or not being used) for these purposes. The only other time I’ve heard them on a soundtrack was on 28 Days Later (’East Hastings’ from A# F# Infinity). The music suited the post-apocalyptic theme of the film perfectly.

Well, maybe the members of Godspeed (the band is sadly no more) are relaxing more about their music’s use, or maybe they need the money. Anyway, I look forward to watching the 39 Steps and seeing if Godspeed have made their way onto the soundtrack and will keep an ear peeled for any future use of their music.

Rook #1, originally uploaded by John Grey.

Great photo of a rook on Flickr by John Grey. I love the sense of movement in it and the feeling it’s like a snaphot of something glimpsed out of the corner of an eye. Very Jamesian.

Yesterday I saw Christmas on Mars, the Flaming Lips‘ film which has finally been released after a seven year gestation period. Going on my experience of the Lips’ music and shows I was expecting a piece of gentle psychedelic whimsy but this was altogether much darker.

The story focuses on a group of astronauts on a space station on Mars in 2055. The station is starting to disintegrate as are the minds of most of its crew. Then a stranger arrives (Wayne Coyne, complete with antennae) and things start to change…

Wayne Coyne was present at the screening and did a Q and A after the film in which he explained the ideas behind the film. Apparently he was influenced by some of the stories he’d heard in childhood about a failed mission to Mars which had been covered up (learned from from his dope-smoking elder brother, unsuprisingly).

Shot mainly in black and white and featuring shots of dead babies and marching bands of men with the heads of female genitalia, plus a matching disorientating soundtrack, Christmas on Mars easily earns its place in a year from winter’s canon of disconcerting art.

Greenwich pathway blur #2, originally uploaded by reynard.

No sign of anything M.R. James related as yet, but BBC4 is promising Crooked House, a new short series of ghost stories written by Mark Gatiss, a writer in which we can every confidence. Sounds promising.