A simple, haunting melody followed by the crash of thunder as a spotlight reveals and follows Delilah Bennett (Genevieve Steele) in flowing, Victorian widow’s weeds, traversing down two staircases, channelling Norma Desmond from Sunset Boulevard.
Thus begins The Ghost of Violet Shaw by Katerina Bakolias, and speaks volumes about what we are in store for: a deliciously over-the-top melodramatic romp that blends Victorian Gothic with French Farce.
The heart of the story is a family curse: anyone who falls in love with a Bennett girl is doomed to die. Delilah, a woman of the stage, has lost her husband and her female lover, whom she met in the theatre (the title character), whose enlarged portrait dominates the upper part of the set.
Until the curse is lifted, Delilah will never consent to her medical-student daughter, Rose
(Katerina Bakolias) marrying. This frustrates two potential suitors: Vic (James Arthur
MacLean), a person of the stage who is smitten with Rose and in awe of her mother, and Cousin Edward (Nathan D. Simmons), who enters the home purely to run from his gambling debts and a criminal by the name of Baxter (Jeff Schwager). Once we are introduced to our five stock characters, the farcical mayhem ensues.
First, farce is probably the most challenging genre to write for the stage, and Bakolias must be commended because neither the attempt nor the deed confounds us.
Although true that this script draws heavily on Shakespearean lines, it is a pastiche of references from Moliere to Dickens to Austen to Fawlty Towers to gothic horror and Young Frankenstein. In essence, Bakolias has written a play that is both new and old, a tribute to and celebration of theatre itself, especially given that three of the characters are actors and the style relies heavily on an almost self-aware sense of melodrama.
Brenda Duran’s set is a visual feast: from the portraits on the upper level, each with its own light, to the trick bookcases and cupboard that allow a ghostly presence to make itself known. The colour palette of dark browns, muted greens and purples provides the perfect backdrop for the vibrant, luscious costumes designed by Diego Cavedon Dias to take centre stage, giving it an almost fairy-tale-like quality.
Combined with a lighting design by Jess Lewis that alternates between natural and surreal, and sudden spotlights timed perfectly with Jackson Fairfax-Perry’s gothic compositions and thunder strikes, the overall effect created a sense of theatrical celebration. Director Kat McCormack managed to blend all of these creative elements with the sleight of hand of an invisible magician.
The stock use of doors in farce was traded in for a centre piece bench and window with rich, flowing curtains. This provided the comic reveals which tied in beautifully with the thespian theme as it was much like the unveiling of a theatrical curtain.
The performances also contributed to this theatrical effect. Steele as Delilah was a delightful cross between an overacting Sarah Bernhardt, who melted more than once to the floor on a pillowsaturated sofa, and the smiling innocence and endearing ditziness of Katherine Helmond’s Jessica Tate from Soap. As Cousin Edward, Simmons provided a solid blend of grounded motivation for a marriage of convenience with an exaggerated sense of worry and fear about his predicament. MacLean as Vic deftly turned the flamboyant fop into a heartfelt, sincere lover while still delighting us with his incompetence during the seance. Schwager’s physical comedy was extraordinary, as he gave us a sense of a full-size marionette with hidden strings, to say nothing of his vocal abilities for his characters. And Bakolias as Rose, with dignity and poise, provided the sturdy Martin to these ultimately four Lewises.
In spite of all these wonderful histrionics, Bakolias’s play does have a sentimental underbelly: the joy of finding a significant other who accepts and loves us for all that we are, and the pain and grief at losing them and being separated from them as they journey to the other side.
Unlike a brief lecture about gender identity awkwardly inserted into the script, these tender moments are never heavy-handed and arise naturally and infrequently. This is a ghostly farce after all, and you won’t be disappointed.
Produced by Eastern Front Theatre
𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗚𝗛𝗢𝗦𝗧 𝗢𝗙 𝗩𝗜𝗢𝗟𝗘𝗧 𝗦𝗛𝗔𝗪
The production runs to May 24, 2026, on Scotiabank Studio Stage, 1593 Argyle Street, Halifax.
Tickets on Sale Now
www.neptunetheatre.com or call (902) 429-7070
Directed by Kat McCormack
𝗦𝗲𝘁 𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻 by Brenda Duran 𝗖𝗼𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗺𝗲 𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻 by Diego Cavedon-Dias 𝗟𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻 by Jess Lewis 𝗦𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻 by Jackson Fairfax-Perry Stage Manager Don Brownrigg
Performers: Nathan Simmonds, Genevieve Steele, Jeff Schwager, Katerina Bakolias and James MacLean
