Taking the audience on ajourney to the unknown

US screen star Sean Maguire returns to the UK for his first stage play in 13 or 14 years - Charles Dickens’ The Haunting at Guildford’s Yvonne Arnaud Theatre from Monday to Saturday, November 15 to 20.

A two-hander with Paul Nicholas, the brand-new stage play is based on some of Charles Dickens’ most spine-tingling tales of the unexpected. In an ancient, crumbling mansion, sheltering from the howling winds that tear across the surrounding desolate moorland, two men stumble across a dark and terrifying secret that will change their lives forever…

When a young book dealer David Filde is employed by a former associate of his uncle to catalogue an impressive library, he finds an incredible array of rare and antiquated books.

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But as a series of strange and unexplained events conspire to keep Filde from his work, he realises that if he is to convince his sceptical employer that the mysterious things he is experiencing are real, they must journey together to the very edge of terror… and beyond.

“It’s a real pleasure to take somebody as brilliant and wonderful and respected and historical as Charles Dickens and also to do a new play,” Sean says. “It’s not a play written by Dickens but it is inspired by four or five of his ghost stories which the author has then given a through-line.”

And it falls to the two actors to bring out the terror…

“There are tricks that you can play with the audience with clever things to do with lighting and sound and we have got a very clever director that knows how to make the most of that.”

A suspension of disbelief does the rest - not that Sean has to try too hard.

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“I certainly believe that there is something in the spiritual realm of a ghostly nature. What exactly, I don’t know. I have not had any direct experience. I don’t know if I would want to see a ghost, but being a spiritual person, I would like to take comfort from the spiritual realm. There are so many examples that suggest there is something more than just physical presence.”

For Los Angeles-based Sean, whose movie Meet The Spartans hit the number one spot in the US box office charts, it’s his first play for years.

“I am part of a Shakespeare festival in Los Angeles that Tom Hanks and his wife run. I have been in that for six or seven years, but it is more a one-night gala event.”

The Haunting has been the chance to get back on the stage properly for Sean, whose best-known roles have included Aidan Brosnan in EastEnders and Marty Dangerfield in Dangerfield.

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“I thought it was time to do a play again. I love the medium. When you do a play, it’s entirely different for an actor. It’s our medium. You are taking the audience on a journey for an hour or two.

“There are no safety nets. It’s just you, another actor and the audience and hopefully you create something in their minds.”

Tickets on 01483 440000. The piece also plays the Congress Theatre, Eastbourne from November 22-27.