M.R. James: Whistle and I'll Come To You

Adapted from Oh Whistle, and I’ll Come to You, My Lad by acclaimed horror writer M.R. James, Blue Orange Arts’ Whistle And I’ll Come To You is a beautifully simple adaptation that is somehow twice as haunting as the original short story on which it is based. In this version the tale is told by Parkins, rather then by some nameless narrator recounting the professors story after the fact, which gives the ending a much more ambiguous nature.

James Nicholas is superb as the sceptical Professor Parkins – in this version recently bereaved, which added a psychological element to the haunting that is absent in the original text – while Allan Groucott multi-roles the characters Parkins interacts with, most notably the bullish Colonel Wilson.

The title of M.R. James’ original short story is also the title of a folk-song penned by Robert Burns about a secret rendezvous between lovers. Blue Orange Arts includes this poem in their re-imagining tying it to Perkins and his recently deceased wife and as such making it a melancholy marker of grief while simultaneously providing a recutting refrain that introduces a secondary haunting – of the narrative as well as of Perkins – that does not exist in James’ ghost story and adding a new meaning to the question “Who is this who is coming?” as transcribed on the mysterious whistle found in the ruins.

I was enchanted by Nicholas’ performance, so much so that I honestly don’t have much to say about it as I was too absorbed by the show, in fact I loved it so much that I travelled back into Edinburgh to watch it a second time and got swept away again!

Attended 5 August 2024
Edinburgh FRINGE: Venue 43
Symposium Hall

The sound of the whistle had so fascinated him that he could not help trying it once more, this time more boldly.

Blue Orange Arts:
Blue Orange Arts
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Blue Orange Theatre
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Further Reading:
Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad by M.R. James (Text)
‘Oh Whistle and I’ll Come to You’ by M.R. James – A Personal Anthology
M. R. James' Oh, Whistle and I'll Come to You, My Lad: A Detailed Summary and a Literary Analysis
Whistle And I'll Come To You (1968) : Jonathan Miller : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
O, Whistle, And I'll Come To You, My Lad Poem - In SCDD

Cast:
James Nicholas
Alan Groucott

Image taken from the Blue Orange Theatre instagram page