IF YOU loved Grand Theatre favourite, The Woman in Black, you'll probably enjoy this week's offering, The Turn of the Screw.

Sorry, can't go any stronger than 'probably enjoy.'

It's not that this isn't a good play - far from it. The set up- rich uncle washes his hands of seemingly angelic young charges, leaving them in the hands of a youthful, broody but headstrong governess and a maid who knows a little more than she lets on.

The acting is splendid - both from established stars and youngsters, Melissa Taylor and Montgomery High pupil, Grant Pilling.

The latter two, selected from open auditions, help to hold the play together in challenging and pivotal roles and performed impeccably.

All the elements were there, spooky haunted house prone to occasional, random thunder and lightning, recently deceased former servants of whom little is said and, of course, those spooky kids - a horror staple as popular today as they were more than a century ago when Henry James wrote the original novella.

The questions come thick and fast. Are the ghosts presenting themselves to governess Miss Grey (Sarah Mowat) real or imagined? Why did seemingly well behaved Miles (Grant Pilling) get expelled from his boarding school? What is the relevance of the locked and sealed gothic tower which nobody dare enter?

The anticipation grows and the spooky, suggestive atmosphere is built up wonderfully.

This all hits the spot - but disappointment comes in the last act. This is a good play in search of a good ending.

Sure, there is a twist that isn't quite what you might expect but, for me at least, so many of those questions appear to remain unanswered.

There is, perhaps, an argument that this play is open to interpretation. It is a 'psychological' effort but, for me, that doesn't forgive some of the flaws.

Perhaps that's just your reviewer being superficial, spoilt by the more telegraphed Hollywood efforts which take much or all of their inspiration from James' original (think The Sixth Sense, The Others).

Or perhaps our friends across the Atlantic have had a little more time to perfect their spiel. But it's worth seeing, so, at the risk of being accused of hypocrisy, you decide