The Veil

Synopsis

May 1822, rural Ireland. The defrocked Reverend Berkeley arrives at the crumbling former glory of Mount Prospect House to accompany seventeen-year-old Hannah to England. She is to be married off to a Marquis in order to resolve the debts of her mother’s estate. However, compelled by the strange voices that haunt his beautiful young charge and a fascination with the psychic current that pervades the house, Berkeley proposes a seance, the consequences of which are catastrophic.

Our Review:

Terri Paddock - 5 October 2011

Those familiar with the work of Conor McPherson may, at first glance, think they’ve wandered into the wrong play. Rather than a down-at-heel modern pub, office or flat, The Veil, the Irish playwright’s first period drama and his first new play in five years, is set in a stately home in 1822 Ireland.

But beneath the crumblingly grand, historic surface, there are supernatural happenings, hidden family secrets and haunted characters that hark back to the Irish playwright’s earlier works including The Seafarer (revolving around a card game with Mephistopheles), Shining City (in which a widower seeks a therapist’s help to exorcise his late wife) and, most famously, the multi award-winning The Weir (in which pub regulars share ghost yarns and Guinness).

Before we even get to The Veil’s pivotal séance scene, McPherson himself conjures the ghost of Chekhov. The La...

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Latest User Review

Pegasus - 1 November 2011:

Very disappointing. I loved the Weir but this was nothing on par. The acting felt forced and the play is pretty boring really....

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