Sandra Carter reviews the dazzling stage adaptation of Daphne Du Marier's Rebecca. 

It’s a little alarming to consider going to a stage version of a book you love. When the book is Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca - surely one of the most atmospheric of suspenseful novels, followed by an equally dark film - will the confines of a stage destroy the effect of the sinister threat to a couple’s romance?

My worries were unfounded. This stage production by Kneehigh Theatre is brilliant. It takes all the haunting suspense of the original and adds touches of light and humour. Humour? - in Rebecca? Trust me, it works beautifully. There’s music too, from local Cornish fishermen who add to the atmosphere playing instruments at the side of the stage.
 
This contrast of light and dark is there from the start as the key players, the charming but troubled wealthy landowner, brings his young, innocent bride home from honeymoon to Manderley, a grand old house holding dark, foreboding secrets.

But the staff - butler and young footman, plus maids - and the seamen from the nearby fishing village are not touched by their troubles and provide lots of moments of fun and light relief, singing Cornish songs, dancing, joking, playing music.

The footman Robert, little more than a boy, played by an elfish Katy Owen, is brilliant, almost like Buttons in a panto, bringing a light touch throughout - especially when he’s wailing like a kid when upset or begging to be allowed to answer the phone.

The set is extraordinary. The scene needs to shift from house entrance, to interior grand staircase, to the garden, to the sea shore, to a beach house. So the single set shows a little of all of them - stairs on a raised section at the back (parts of which are sometimes removed by fishermen), leading to a bedroom gallery; a boat in the foreground, which descends from on high in the opening scene to portray a sinking vessel; the middle ground which can become a garden when tree branches are held aloft, or a grave; a scattering of sand turns the front of stage into a beach.

If someone needs to look through a window, the footman carries in a window frame and holds it up in front of them. Fishermen in sou’westers and oilskins move bits of walkways, carry on string-animated seagulls or set up party lights, while the family dog, worked by strings, is a character in his own right. The creative use of this set is a constant wow factor.
 
And the main story? Yes, Maxim de Winter (Tristan Sturrock) is as worldly wise yet deeply troubled as he should be. Mrs de Winter (Imogen Sage) is brilliant, moving from a weak innocence to something much stronger. The dreadful housekeeper Mrs Danvers (Emily Raymond) is rather less sinister than in the book, but you still wouldn’t want to cross her.

And Rebecca’s long shadow? This still remains the ultimate portrayal of the power of a first wife to create havoc in the mind of a second.
 
So yes, love the book, enjoy the film, and do experience this fresh take on Rebecca that is different, in a very good way.

Rebecca continues at the Wycombe Swan until Saturday, 14 March. Tickets are £29.50, available online at www.wycombeswan.co.uk or by calling the ticket office on 01494 512 000.