A skilfully-told backstory for Miss Havisham, imagining the youth of an iconic character who is eventually trapped in a tragic moment.
Ghosts and hauntings are one of the most iconic themes of Gothic literature; this one-woman show delves into the backstory of an iconic character who is haunted by her own past, living as a ghostly figure in an eerie, cobwebbed home. In Charles Dickens’s classic Great Expectations, Miss Havisham appears as a living ghost of sorts; she is trapped in the single moment of being jilted on her wedding day. In Havisham, writer and performer Heather Alexander paints a portrait of an abused and traumatised woman whose sense of self was too damaged to survive this betrayal.
Survivors of trauma often describe the same ‘out of body’ experiences that Miss Havisham recalls in her earlier years, as well as flashbacks during which one feels like they’re truly reliving a past moment. Dickens’s Miss Havisham is perhaps the most memorable literary character who is stuck in a past moment like this – even down to having the clocks in her home stopped at the exact moment her heart was broken. Alexander’s narrative adds depth and history to Miss Havisham’s story, creating a richer tapestry of her life before that fateful moment. As Miss Havisham tells her story, she strings flashbacks and memories into a disjointed tale. Alexander’s constant focus and grace as a performer keep the audience right with her, even as the story jumps from year to year of her life.
From the moment she opens her eyes onstage, Alexander fills the stage with a captivating presence. In the story’s darker moments, the audience is absolutely silent, as if holding their breath. Alexander is a gifted storyteller, speaking with expert pacing and cadence, and her wide-eyed gaze keeps the audience rapt. While the imagined plotlines of Miss Havisham’s youth are generally well-trodden aspects of 19th-century girlhood, such as frightening experiences in church and mystifying first periods, Alexander’s commanding performance brings a fresh energy to the piece, and Miss Havisham’s doomed love story brings a strong narrative tension to the second act.
Just as Miss Havisham’s attachment to the past leaves her untethered to the reality of the present, this production (directed by Dominique Gerrard) is not tethered strongly to a specific time or space: Miss Havisham’s story could easily take place very similarly in the present day. The costuming is informed by Regency silhouettes, but only loosely; the overall impression is of timeless, flowing white fabric. The anachronistic song choices pull the narrative towards a more nebulous place of memory, where past and present collapse into one. The lighting design flowed at times into more dreamlike washes of colour as Miss Havisham stepped in and out of different scenes. Whether or not you know Dickens’s original character, this production is a jewel well worth watching.
Notes: This play explores themes of child abuse and sexual assault.This production of Havisham, presented by Emul8 Theatre, ran from 11-15 March at the Jack Studio Theatre in Brockley.