Gothic thriller ‘We Had a Girl’ never lets go of you

By Rich Fahey

STONEHAM – As we approach Halloween, someone is out to scare you. And they’re not being subtle about it.

The Greater Boston Stage Company, coming off the heels of last season’s award-winning production of “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” is at it again.

The GBSC is opening its 24^th season with the U.S. premiere of Canadian Trevor Schmidt’s thriller “We Had a Girl Before You,” the first time the work has been fully produced. Schmidt was in attendance for the opening night.

The thriller genre is one the theater is very acquainted with. Paul Melendy won the Norton Award for best solo performance in “Sleepy Hollow,” and in the past the company has presented such works as “Strangers on a Train,” “Dracula” and  “Dial M For Murder,” with a new version of that  piece  to be presented next May.

“We Had a Girl” again features a solo performance, with Annie Barbour’s magnificent, nuanced portrayal of Edwina “Weenie” Trout, a lonely young woman  thrust into a maelstrom of events that bring her to the edge of madness.

We know early on that Edwina will emerge on the other side because as the play opens she is writing about the events that have just occurred in her diary. She has lived her entire life in an orphanage where she has served as mentor and mother figure of sorts to the younger orphans, whom she can name and describe at will.

Edwina’s difficult relationship with Mrs. Patchett, who runs the orphanage, has her wondering who she is and where she belongs in the world. She comes across an ad for a lady’s companion, and its description of its duties seems to give her the chance to go out and live her life. She wins the job and says her goodbyes to her fellow orphans.

Mrs. Patchett is skeptical, noting “no one ever wanted her “and predicting “she’ll be back.”

Her venture into the outside world gets off to a difficult start. She feels awkward with all eyes on her after entering a pub. An encounter with an unsympathetic barmaid and several rounds of ale makes for an early evening, disquieting when she can’t remember how she got to bed.

Then comes the boat ride from the village of Endicott-Pryde On The Bay with a gruff boatsman named Dead-Eyed Dick to Whisham Manor – aka Desolation —   which sits atop a cliff on the island of Whisham.

It seems to be  deserted. Eve Whisham, whom Weenie is supposed to tend to, is quarantined behind a door, and only her brother Adam’s voice can  be heard   behind the same door, urging her to stay, giving instructions about what Edwina should do in their absence.

Whenever it comes time to ump the ante on the suspense, Edwina ventures back to the door, and on cue the light under the door brightens. What emerges from Adam behind the door is  a series of Gothic stories, about a long string of young, vulnerable women who preceded Edwina and met untimely ends. Still, Edwina is intrigued by the attention and praise Adam lavishes on her, and feelings begin to emerge.  

Her encounters with Adam become more dangerous and disturbing. Is what is happening to Edwina actually true or is a part of it – even, perhaps, a large part of it –  been created in the fevered imagination of a woman whose sole human contact over an extended period of time  is a mysterious voice behind a door? A voice which, it increasingly appears, does not have her best interests at heart.

When it comes to a Gothic thriller such as this, the author, his play and the cast are one part of the formula. The director and the designers have to create the precise atmosphere for the play to succeed and be believed.

Director Weylin Symes, GBSC’s artistic director, admits that “scary is hard” and that the one-person show lives and dies with the work of the Colorado-based  Barbour. Happily, she is more than up to the task, which also includes portraying characters such as Mrs. Patchett, an earthy barmaid, the mysterious boatman named Dead-Eyed Dick, and the voice of Adam Whisham, who is curiously absent from the family portraits in the home.

Solo shows can also be static, so Symes constantly has Barbour on the move around set designer’s Kathy Monthei’s  gloomy, foreboding Whisham Manor. He also brought back other members of the “Sleepy Hollow” team, such as sound designer David Remedios, whose thrilling and chilling design perfectly combines incidental music with the sounds of things that go bump in the night, and Corey Whittemore’s lighting design, which serves to heighten the sense of foreboding.  

It’s fun to get scared, especially at this time of year. It’s especially fun when it’s done with skill and panache. During its 90 minutes, “We Had a Girl Before You” never lets you go.

The Greater Boston Stage Company production of “We Had a Girl Before You.” Written by Trevor Schmidt. Directed by Weylin Symes. At the Greater Boston Stage Company through Nov. 5. For tickets, call 781 279-2200, or go to greaterbostonstage.org.