The Turn of the Screw at The Catastrophic Theatre

(World Premiere) 

The Turn of the Screw is a new environmental and multimedia theatrical adaptation of the celebrated Gothic ghost story of the same name by Henry James. In Victorian England, a young governess journeys to the isolated country estate of Bly to caretake two orphaned children. In time, she begins to witness mysterious apparitions of human figures on the estate grounds and startling and troubling changes in the behaviors of her young charges.

The Turn of the Screw combines environmental staging, toy theatre, puppetry, live cinema, and a haunting soundscape into a meditation on the tipping point between artifice and reality.

Conceived by New York City-based creative director and multimedia designer Adam J. Thompson, co-directed by Catastrophic core artist Afsaneh Aayani and Thompson, with book by dramatist and dramaturg Bradley Michalakis, and featuring an original score by Hessam Dianpour, this new The Turn of the Screw is an invitation to join the seance as performers and guests unite to manifest one of the world's most celebrated and hotly contested ghost stories.

The production incorporates music performed by composer Hessam Dianpour while the cast includes Catastrophic core artists Brittny Bush, John Dunn, and Karina Pal Montaño-Bowers. Annie Wild makes her Catastrophic debut.

THE TURN OF THE SCREW runs November 17 – December 9, 2023 at the Midtown Arts and Theater Center Houston (MATCH). Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased at matchouston.org or by calling the MATCH box office at 713-521-4533.

Performances are Thursdays at 7:30 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 p.m., and Sundays at 2:30 p.m. with a Special Monday performance on November 27 at 7:30 p.m. (No one under 10 admitted.)

Authors

• Henry James
• Jeffrey Hatcher
• Rebecca Lenkiewicz