STORY: A trip into the past, taking Amaryllis to play scrabble with William Shakespeare, leads to an adventure of cross dressing, conspiracy and a confrontation with unearthly powers….

REVIEW: Once again, Timebase goes off in a completely different direction with this two part serial. I think at this point, we’re going to have to face the fact that as far as two part serials went, Timebase was actually doing theirs better than the BBC Doctor Who.

I think that the difference is that when the BBC went with a two parter, usually they were just trying to bridge a bottleneck, some problem in budget or scheduling, so they grabbed up whatever they could and threw it in there. For Timebase, a two part serial was their chosen format, they really committed to it.

This time the Doctor and Amaryllis go to visit Shakespeare. Point of interest: Shakespeare always beats the Doctor at Scrabble, he just makes up words as he goes. It’s a nice little throwaway gag, a bit of the quirky wit or humour that really makes Timebase’s serials feel so much like the real thing.

Shakespeare soon enough drops out of the story, which is a little sad, as he was a fun character, and it looked as if he was going to be an integral part of the plot. Possibly that was the original plan, it does feel that plot threads were being laid out for him and then abandoned. It may be that the actor dropped out or had to leave and they retuned the script. Shakespeare is played by Ian Patterson, who seems to have been quite busy behind the scenes, so I’m not at all sure of that.

Or possibly, it was intended all along. I could see them being clever enough to pull a trick like that – lead the audience into believing it’s going to be one sort of story, and then suddenly shift direction and make it a different story. The Simpson’s does that sort of trick regularly, and I wouldn’t put it past them.

Whatever, we are left with Shakespeare’s drinking buddy, and his young protege, who is actually a girl (obviously) masquerading as a boy (not convincingly).

Back in Shakespeare’s day, women were not allowed in the theatre, so all the women’s parts were played by pretty young boys. Genderbending was a common feature in a lot of Shakespeare’s plays – girls dressing up as boys, boys pretending to be girls pretending to be boys. Sometimes it got hard to keep track. In this case, the girl is kind of in love with Will, so she’s helping him by writing his plays for him while he’s too drunk to notice.

So anyway, here they are, doing a riff on Shakespeare in Love, which looked like where they were going, but then, they pull a swerve. But they manage to make it continue to work as a plot point, it seems that some cultists need to a double sacrifice, a boy and a girl, and guess who they grab as the boy… even as the focus shifts to Curwen an ancient Old/Young warlock and his efforts to awaken his old Master now reincarnated as a washer-woman, and then raise up Cthulhu… or someone who looks a lot like him. Yes, this is The Doctor meets Lovecraft, with a bit of gender bending thrown in for good measure.

One of the most interesting things about the production was the largely successful effort to marry Shakespearean and Lovecraftian styles. With Shakespeare, we have not just the archaic diction, but the actions of stagecraft, with characters very clearly disappearing stage left and right, or visibly eavesdropping from the edge of stage, unrequited love, a bit of genderbending, some comedic slap and tickle.

With Lovecraft, we have that escalating sense of menace, that lovecraftian story convention of assembling apparently random pieces into a story, reincarnation and returns of dark things, ambition, an accumulating doom that boils over in a climactic revelation. Lovecraft fans will spot the references, starting with the Wizard Curwen himself – he’s actually the villain from the Case of Charles Dexter Ward. The elder sign is seen. Even great Cthulhu makes an appearance. Lovecraftian tropes – the degenerate inbred family/cult, or the alien beings outside our dimension trying to get in, are there.

I like it. These Timebase folk, they are people who think about things, who try and do interesting things. They’re not just about telling a straightforward linear story, they like to make it interesting, even a little challenging.

Once again, they found some good locations and used them very well, to establish setting and sense of place. There’s some wondeful cinematography, a shot of the Doctor and Amaryllis walking along the horizon at sunset leaps to mind. They do a lot of what seems to be genuine night shooting (rather than day for night) and they make effective use of shadows and darkness. As always, they’re very clever at making a little go a long way – a good example is the cult, which, through the magic of shadows, photography and getting every warm body into robes (Rupert Booth is listed as doing double duty as a cultist, back in Phase Four he also played a cyberman) comes across as formidible.

Amaryilis comes off well. That’s tricky. Paradise in Chains was really about her, and about the mystery at the center of her. It’s one thing to be the focus of the story, it’s quite another challenge to be simply a part of the story. But Deborah Riley manages to make the transition with a good performance. In some ways, I like Amaryllis less than Leslie, Leslie’s character had a sweetness to her. Amaryllis is more worldly, the relationship with the Doctor is more complex. Her character actually has things to do, she’s flirty and fun, she stumbles into some deeper trouble, and she acts effectively – she doesn’t just stand there and scream, or simply exist to ask the Doctor questions – its a role.

Some of the supporting characters are terrific, the guy who plays Shakespeare steals his scenes. The big hairy dude, who initially plays slap and tickle with Amaryllis is a nice stock Shakespeare type. On the other hand, most of the cultists are basically faceless and menacing, but that’s their whole point. Physically, the characters are diverse, they don’t look like they’re all in the same peer group.

The actor who plays Curwen… sorry Dude. I think he starts off okay, but he’s got two problems to wrestle with. One is that, like Rupert Booth’s Doctor, he’s playing a very old man, in a very young man’s body. Rupert Booth and Matt Smith both manage to carry it off by finding subtle ways, dress, references, mannerisms to express that there’s something else looking out. Here, Curwen’s sort of defeated by it. The other problem is that he’s trying to play someone up to his elbows in meddling with lovecraftian deities… That’s just tough.

Similarly, the actress who plays the washer-woman who is possessed by or the reincarnation of the old Master has an even tougher time. She essentially has to play two characters. One of which is a supernatural magician. Do you know a lot of lovecraftian wizards? Any idea how to play one? It’s tough. Jeremy Irons, a very good actor, came up against the same problem when he got recruited into Dungeons and Dragons… What’s the point of reference for an evil wizard? He ended up biting huge chunks of set.

On the other hand, who knows, maybe that’s how Lovecraftian power mad wizards, either reincarnated or artificially prolongued of life, end up acting. I’ve never met one, but I assume it takes a heaping helping of barking at the moon crazy.

I’ve talked about the persistent minor issues with the sound mix and edit before. They’re never bad enough to wreck the enjoyment, but they’re definitely noticeable. You either forgive it, or let it sink you. The bottom line is that these were amateurs working with limited equipment and resources, and some of this stuff, particularly the sound mix – there’s no substitute for experience and high end tools. It’s amazing that it’s as polished as it is.

One of the big weaknesses are the sets. Look, sets are hard. They cost money, and they take time to build. The tavern setting is barely passable. Curwen’s lair… ouch. It doesn’t wobble, that’s the best I’ll say for it. Or maybe I’m being harsh, medieval rooms tended to be small, cramped and cluttered, doorways were narrow. Truthfully, they’re nowhere near as bad or distracting as the flats we saw in Visions of Utomu. It’s a sign of how good the production is overall when a relatively modest flaw is the most I can come up with.

In some ways, it’s reminiscent of Regenesis, although that was more light hearted. In Long Shadows, they make a real effort to cultivate dread and fear. Both Shakespeare and Lovecraft built their stories to climaxes, to pivotal moments. Lovecraft far more spectacularly. Shakespeare sorted out his characters, Lovecraft pulled a monster out. The ending is spectacular, if you’re doing Lovecraft, it’s hard to get the payoff right, and they managed it.

It’s ironic in a way. If this was a one off, it would be a cult fixture: Shakespeare, Doctor Who and Cthulhu! It would be an amazing thing. But because it’s Timebase, because Long Shadows is keeping company with Phase Four and Paradise in Chains and Regenesis, and because their range is so consistently strong… it’s just “Oh yeah, Timebase did another one.” It’s not as singular as it deserves to be, simply because it’s part of a series which is so consistently extraordinary.

CAST: Rupert Booth – The Doctor, Cultist; Deborah Reilly – Amaryllis; Tom Hibbert – Curwen, Cultist; Selina Lock – Judith; Malcolm Herron – Daniel, Cultist; Lisa Gledhill – Sarah; Ian Patterson – Shakespeare; Maude Richard – Cultist; Richard Knapper – Cultist

CREW: Lisa Gledhill – Writer, Lighting, Visual Effects, transport, costume, make up, props, assistant editor, credits; Rupert Booth – Lighting, Camera, Visual Effects, transport, props, VT editor, dubbing, video effects, titles; Philip T. Robinson – Camera, transport, titles,

Rachel Chamberlayne – Lighting; Malcolm Herron – Lighting; Tom Hibbert – Lighting; Richard Knapper – Lighting, Camera, props; Selina Lock – Lighting, catering; Ian Patterson – Lighting. Camera, props, H&S, special sound, credits; Deborah Reilly – Lighting, transport, costume, make up; Maude Richard – Lighting; Hazel Gledhill – laundry; Rachel Chamberlayne – H&S; Gavin Chilvers – titles; Shot at Broadgate Farm Co-operative

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Part One

Part Two