The following review appeared in the Swindon Advertiser on Friday 4 June 2010 and is reproduced and transcribed with their kind permission:

A Haunting Night

Despite his being one of the world's greatest playwrights, Ibsen's work isn't tackled by many groups in Swindon. So it was music to my ears when I found out that the Old Town Theatre Company were performing one of his plays as his latest production.

Ghosts is a story about the past and how history has a habit of a) repeating itself and b) coming back to haunt you when you least expect it. The cast of five had to deal with such cheery topics as affairs, illegitimate children and syphilis – it's an uplifting night at the theatre.

There were some strong performances from the cast, who had a lot of lines to learn. The stand out performance for me was Wendy Vickery as Mrs Alving, who portrayed the character's inner turmoil well. All the cast played well off each other, although there were occasions when I felt the characterisations got lost slightly, and that applied to everyone. That said, it is a complex play and they held the audience's attention throughout.

Director, Mike Bull has done a good job with the play. It is well staged and the actors never block each other, which is something that creeps in all too often in am dram productions.

Paul Blonden's set design, which includes a gauze wall and doorway, effectively splitting the stage in half, allows the audience to see action taking place in another room and was very well done. The props and costumes are all top-notch and suit the period the piece was set in.

I was watching the show on the dress rehearsal and there were all the usual mistakes, such as forgotten lines and mistimed cues. But that's what rehearsals are for and with all of those out of their system, I am sure they will be impressing the audience from now on.