In Good Company: Imitating the Dog

In a recent episode of C4 sitcom Toast of London, the eponymous Steven Toast was ostracised by the acting fraternity for revealing the ending of creaky thriller The Moose Trap. The joke would have worked equally as well with the similarly creaky Woman in Black, now celebrating 25 years in the West End. There’s been a TV adaptation, a Daniel Radcliffe movie, and soon the inevitable sequel – can there be anybody left to see it?

The news that Oldham Coliseum is staging The Mist in the Mirror – another Susan Hill adaptation - might elicit a groan rather than a cheer. However, The Mist in the Mirror promises to be a cut above the usual stage ghost story, thanks to the involvement of the innovative Imitating the Dog. ITD create their own shows (you may have caught their version of A Farewell to Arms on tour last year), and also provide video design for other companies. Clearly the Coliseum partnership is proving to be a fruitful one – Mist follows their work on The Life and Times of Mitchell and Kenyon and The Hound of the Baskervilles.  

A ghost story presents a particular set of challenges – particularly one featuring a main character named Sir James Monmouth who ‘has spent his life travelling, following in the footsteps of his childhood hero, explorer Conrad Vane.’ The plot concerns Sir James’s ill-advised attempts to ‘unravel the mysteries of the past.’ A mysterious orphan boy dogs his every move. Spooky.   

"Ghost stories are always difficult in the theatre because it’s easy for the storytelling to fall in to cliché and parody,” explains Andrew Quick, one of ITD’s three directors. “This might be to do with the fact that cinema usually does the gothic much better than theatre – it can use effects and music and editing to really build tension and scare the audience.” Quick stresses that Ian Kershaw’s adaptation and Barney George’s set are helping to build a suitable sense of claustrophobia. “We will be creating a palate of material but we will play with this in the space with the performers. That’s how we make work and Kevin Shaw [Coliseum director] understands this and has created room for this approach, which is not usual in repertory theatre.”

There isn’t much that is usual about ITD. They have something in common with Canadian genius Robert Lepage, in that they make theatre which manages to feel both intimate and epic (check out the ITD website and marvel at their production shots). ITD initially revolved around the duo of Quick and Simon Wainwright; the arrival of Pete Brooks in 2005 signalled a development in the company’s visual language. “That’s when we really embraced the cinematic style,” says Quick. “It had existed before but with less actual technology. It’s true to say that we seem always to come to the same themes – notions of history and the past, what constitutes truth, the redemptive and destructive force of love, the power and fear of having children. And it’s interesting that The Mist in the Mirror has some of these themes. It’s a dark story.”

Again, having three artistic directors is far from usual. “We have distinct roles,” says Quick. “That said, it’s very collaborative, and decision making takes place between the three of us a great deal of the time. It works because we have been together so long.” Quick cites an eclectic list of influences, shared by all three – French cinema, pulp novels, graphic novels, and the biographies of tyrants and war criminals. “We’re a bit like magpies," he says, "stealing what catches our eye.”

After an ITD show, normal theatre seems slightly dull by comparison. Imagine what they could do with The Moose Trap.