Starring: Kathryn Leigh Scott, David Selby, Clark Alexander, Johnny Myers, Brendan O’Rourke, Zara Symer and Daisy Tormé

Written by: Lila Whelan, Mark Thomas Passmore, Cody Schell and Alan Flanagan

Directed by: David Darlington, Joseph Lidster, Alan Flanagan and Jim Pierson

 

In which dark shadows from the pasts of engaged couple Maggie Evans (Scott) and Quentin Collins (Selby) stretch into the early 21st century to haunt them anew…

Set in 2004 after the events chronicled in Return to Collinwood, this box set follows the trials and tribulations of Maggie and Quentin as they navigate the challenges inherent in a relationship between an immortal werewolf and a woman in late middle age (to say nothing of the supernatural complications they frequently find themselves entangled in).

Lisa Whelan’s The Girl Beneath the Water initially seems designed to confound continuity buffs with sudden introduction of several apparently major characters as Maggie welcomes family members to Collinwood to celebrate Quentin’s 65thh birthday. However, it soon becomes apparent that all is not what is seems – and the cost of setting things right may be too high for some to consider… If I seem unusually vague in describing this story, it’s because I feel it’s much more enjoyable when one listens to it with as little foreknowledge as possible. Even Big Finish’s promotional summaries contain, in my opinion, spoilers which could dilute the power of this highly emotional audio drama.

Mark Thomas Passmore’s The Sand That Speaks His Name takes a shaken Maggie and Quentin to New York City for a weekend getaway, but as always, something from Quentin’s long past complicates things. An animated golem will rampage through the city unless Quentin (and only Quentin) can deactivate it somehow… This is an engaging tale with lots of back-and-forth bickering between Maggie and Quentin as she chastises him for yet again keeping secrets from her. I’d say my only quibble is the stereotyped Brooklyn accent that Clark Alexander adopts as a pal of Quentin’s during flashbacks set in the 1920s. Although Johnny Myers’ snooty Librarian walks a fine line of over-egging the pudding, Alexander pours in a dozen eggs as far as this Colonial’s ears are concerned.

I’ve come to expect Dark Shadows greatness from Cody Schell, and his The Hollow Winds That Beckon is no exception. Quentin delights Maggie by restoring her father’s old boat, and soon they are enjoying a fishing trip – but not for long. A fierce storm whips up out of nowhere, and before you can say “The Minnow would be lost,” they find themselves washed ashore a mysterious island with an even more mysterious inhabitant – a seemingly demented woman named Jacquelope (Tormé)…  I don’t want to spoil anything here, but it should come as little surprise that Maggie and Quentin get put through the emotional wringer again here, and they are both forced to question the wisdom of being together as a couple.

Again, however, I am forced to question a guest actor’s choice of accent. While Dark Shadows is no stranger to odd vocal inflections (see gypsies Magda and Sandor Rakosi from the 1897 storyline), on television this was just one aspect of a character; costumes, body language and facial expressions all added to the overall picture. On audio, however, we have only the actor’s vocal performance to focus on, so when an actor goes over the top (as Tormé does here, in my opinion), it can become almost unbearably distracting.

Recent events come to a head in Alan Flanagan’s The Paper to the Flame. After an incident at Windcliff, Maggie and Quentin are drawn to an abandoned town that’s almost a literal hell on earth. Someone out there wants revenge on both of them and has gone to great lengths to make this as painfully personal as possible. Enraged by this, Maggie demands that their adversary confront them in the open; as a result, things will never be quite the same for these star-cross’d lovers… For a “box set ender”, this story hits all the right marks: a complex, well-drawn antagonist with motivations one can empathise with; callbacks to the set’s previous stories; and revelations like a previously-unknown connection between two minor Dark Shadows characters which seem so obvious in retrospect that one wonders why it hadn’t been established long before this story.

The palpable chemistry between Kathryn Leigh Scott and David Selby, honed over the decades, is the true highlight of The Lovers’ Refrain. It smoothes over the cracks inherent in some stories, as well as occasional not-quite-in-character actions. Older and ruefully wiser, Scott’s Maggie is the set’s emotional anchor, not afraid to call Quentin out and question the wisdom of their relationship, nor afraid to speak her mind to supernatural entities who might have given her pause in her younger days. And David Selby’s performance when Quentin explains why they are right for each other at this point in time in their lives is tear-jerking.

But like last year’s The Tony and Cassandra Mysteries box set, The Lovers’ Refrain has clearly been done with a lower budget than previous Big Finish Dark Shadows releases. It features a much-smaller guest cast pulling multiple duty as several different characters (admittedly nothing new for either Big Finish or Dark Shadows), but their lack of vocal variety and different accepts makes this necessity quite obvious at times. That being said, the actors are clearly giving it their all and deliver strong performances. The early 21st century is a time period ripe with new story possibilities for Dark Shadows, and I sincerely hope Big Finish keeps exploring them.

Verdict: Strong writing and stronger central performances help overcome budgetary cutbacks in this latest excursion to Collinsport and its accursed environs… 8/10

John S. Hall