A Warning To The Curious (Tour – Salford)

The second Nu-Burlesque season at the Lowry has come to a spooky and thought provoking end with Nunkie Theatre Company’s simple, yet rather splendid, one man staging of A Warning to the Curious: Two Ghost Stories both written by celebrated thriller writer M. R. James.   

The key to the success of A Warning…. is its simplicity.  Robert Lloyd Parry sits in a comfortable arm chair on the small but charming set lit by low candlelight and with the strategic use of a few small props regales the audience first with Lost Hearts written in 1904, the story of the predatory scholar Mr. Abney and then with A Warning to the Curious which, written in 1925, is the haunting tale of a young archaeologist hunted by the ghostly guardian of an ancient treasure he foolishly removes from its resting place.  

The performance is not so much a play as a jackanory performance for adults with the stories being told flawlessly by Lloyd Parry. Neither story is complicated, nor is either story particularly shocking or deeply scary. However, the eerie element is provided through the narrator’s manner of storytelling which is quite remarkable and stimulates the imagination.  The conviction in which he tells the stories and differentiates between characters along with the atmospheric setting makes for a truly compelling evening.

I hope the Lowry try and secure a return visit of Nunkie Theatre Company because after this experience of powerful storytelling, I want more!

– Malcolm Wallace