The Signalman at Wilton’s Music Hall Review
Written by Penny for Theatre and Tonic
Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in exchange for an honest review. All views are our own
David Alnwick is a skilled illusionist who loves ghost stories, particularly ghost stories written by Charles Dickens. In this performance he combines the two, showing off his skills as a magician before telling Dickens’ short story, The Signalman, one he considers to be an even better ghost story than probably his most loved novel, A Christmas Carol.
This is to be a show of two halves then, although it’s performed without an interval. For the first hour (or so), we enjoy the impressive illusions and then the final half hour promises to strike fear into our very bones with the ghostly tale.
Wilton’s Music Hall is an ideal setting for this Victorian-themed evening. It’s a building that just oozes history, opened in 1859 and retaining its original features. It’s well worth arriving early and having a look around before going into the auditorium for a performance.
As the show begins, David Alnwick takes to the stage and takes a bow – with all the flourish of a natural showman. He talks about Dickens, revealing that he was himself a keen and talented amateur magician. I did not know this, but knowing that Dickens had a flair for the theatrical and loved an audience, it makes perfect sense. It also serves as a natural hook for the show’s structure, combining magic and storytelling with a strong Dickensian influence.
His illusions are hugely impressive and very enjoyable. There’s plenty of interaction as audience members are invited to take part – some from their seats and some coming up onto the stage. Alnwick builds a very quick and natural rapport with the audience, reacting to the outrage of a couple of empty seats in the front row of his sold out show (!) and bantering with his chosen foils without anybody being made to feel uncomfortable. He jumps on and off the stage, moving around the auditorium and even up to the gallery – it’s all very inclusive and feels as intimate as if we were sitting watching him in a (Victorian) parlour. Sometimes, a lot of the fun in watching an illusionist is trying to work out how they do it, but Alnwick’s tricks are so skillful and original that it was much more entertaining to sit back and enjoy his talent and believe in his magic.
The second “half” of the show, the ghost story, does not land so well and the energy in the room notably dips. For all his flamboyance as an illusionist, Alnwick doesn’t have the same flair as a storyteller and the intimate feel of the first part of the show doesn’t continue. It’s all a little shouted and staccato in delivery rather than building up tension, and it’s hard to follow the story being told. This declamatory style may well have been the norm in Dickensian times but, with the benefits of modern technology, it’s not necessary to shout to reach the back of the room and the amplification through a mic maybe distorted his speech a little.
With this performance happening as we move into the knockout stages of the World Cup, it feels appropriate to borrow from football to say that this really is a “show of two halves” – both in its structure and its quality. The first hour and a bit is gripping and thoroughly entertaining, but the story that gives the show its title feels like slightly unnecessary “extra time”. Advertised as a 90 minute show, it actually ran for an hour and 45 minutes, which was too long. But if some work was done on the delivery and pace of The Signalman story, it would make for a second half that matches the brilliance of Alnwick’s earlier performance.
The Signalman runs at Wilton’s Music Hall until Wednesday 1st July, and returns with an extra show added due to demand on Thursday 3rd September.
★★★