Berkshire


<p>A remote island setting, mysterious disappearances, and creepy dolls are just a few of the things you can expect to see in the adaptation of Berkshire author Rebecca Netley&#8217;s award-winning novel, <em>The Whistling</em>. Set to apparate in all its ghoulish glory at <a href="https://millatsonning.com/shows/the-whistling/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Mill at Sonning</a> theatre on 27 September for a huge 7-week run, this is a world premiere you won&#8217;t want to miss. We caught up with Rebecca to get the piping hot goss about the upcoming show &#8211; shivers guaranteed.</p>



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tell-me-about-the-whistling-in-a-nutshell-what-is-it-about">Tell me about <em>The Whistling</em>. In a nutshell, what is it about?</h2>



<p>Oh golly, that&#8217;s so hard actually! Essentially, it&#8217;s a ghost story which came out of my absolute passion for traditional ghost stories, but it&#8217;s also a story of love and redemption. The main character, Elspeth, is leaving tragedy and guilt behind to take a new post as a nanny to Mary who&#8217;s a traumatized child that hasn&#8217;t spoken for months. There are ghosts, creepy noises in the night, and dark, unanswered questions, but throughout, it is a building of this relationship between these two characters that holds the book together. </p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-was-the-inspiration-behind-the-book">What was the inspiration behind the book?</h2>



<p>I think it was initially my love of ghost stories and the fact that although there&#8217;s quite a lot of gothic horror out there, there&#8217;s not that many traditional ghost stories. I&#8217;ve always believed very strongly in the supernatural. I&#8217;ve no doubt whatsoever, and I&#8217;ve had lots of anecdotal evidence from people I know and trust who&#8217;ve experienced things. I have a real fascination for that. <em>The Whistling</em> is obviously mostly work of my imagination rather than what I might actually believe ghosts can do and are capable of, but it&#8217;s definitely inspired by a love of the supernatural.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-did-the-show-at-the-mill-at-sonning-come-about">How did the show at The Mill at Sonning come about?</h2>



<p>My agent was approached by Adam Rolston from the theatre and he had been looking for a ghost story to produce a play for. I think it&#8217;s the first time they were looking into commissioning something new, and they came across <em>The Whistling</em> and decided that was a story they wanted to develop. I mean, obviously, I feel utterly blown away and honoured he chose it. Just absolutely unbelievable news. It&#8217;s moved so quickly &#8211; from signing to getting posters out and screen writers on board. I&#8217;m just thrilled to bits.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1000" height="1500" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/berkshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2024/05/rebecca-author.jpg" alt="the whistling rebecca netley stage show mill at sonning theatre berkshire author" class="wp-image-65674" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/berkshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2024/05/rebecca-author.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/berkshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2024/05/rebecca-author-533x800.jpg 533w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/berkshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2024/05/rebecca-author-667x1000.jpg 667w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/berkshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2024/05/rebecca-author-267x400.jpg 267w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/berkshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2024/05/rebecca-author-768x1152.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Credit: Frances Sutton Photography</figcaption></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-does-it-feel-knowing-your-book-is-being-turned-into-a-stage-show">How does it feel knowing your book is being turned into a stage show?</h2>



<p>It feels, to be honest, really a little bit surreal. I&#8217;m absolutely over the moon about it. Excited, thrilled, you know, nervous. But as much as it&#8217;s my book, I do know that the minute it goes into the hands of the script writers and the producers and Adam&#8217;s vision for it, it does become a different animal. So as much as it comes from my book and it&#8217;s my work at the heart of it, I recognise a lot of the credit for this is due to the theatre production team. </p>



<p>It&#8217;s a really odd thing to process really because as I say, it doesn&#8217;t feel entirely mine now it&#8217;s in someone else&#8217;s hands. But I totally trust the script writers who are brilliant. I&#8217;ve seen a draft and it&#8217;s wonderful, and Adam is fantastic, so I&#8217;m really excited for it.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-was-it-ever-a-dream-of-yours-to-see-one-of-your-books-go-to-stage">Was it ever a dream of yours to see one of your books go to stage?</h2>



<p>You know, I think as a writer, and I&#8217;ve got lots of writing friends, we all hope it&#8217;s going to be made into a film. So it never, ever occurred to me that it would go to the theatre because obviously the theatre is a much smaller market than film. A friend did tell me that actually ghost stories are one of the most popular productions for theatres and it works so well in that kind of setting so I can really understand why.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1000" height="1538" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/berkshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2024/05/whistling.jpeg" alt="the whistling rebecca netley stage show mill at sonning theatre" class="wp-image-65753" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/berkshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2024/05/whistling.jpeg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/berkshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2024/05/whistling-520x800.jpeg 520w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/berkshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2024/05/whistling-650x1000.jpeg 650w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/berkshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2024/05/whistling-260x400.jpeg 260w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/berkshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2024/05/whistling-768x1181.jpeg 768w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/berkshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2024/05/whistling-999x1536.jpeg 999w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-any-teasers-what-can-we-expect">Any teasers? What can we expect?</h2>



<p>I think they&#8217;ve taken the heart of the story and all of those thrilling, chilling moments and made the absolute best of them. The stage is quite small but the theatre directions are absolutely magical. They&#8217;ve managed to condense all of the salient points of the book, and the feeling at the heart of it &#8211; this relationship between Elspeth and this very troubled, mute child. It&#8217;s all there, so it&#8217;s just absolutely brilliant. I can&#8217;t wait to see it and they&#8217;ve done a wonderful job. I&#8217;m hoping it will be thrilling, scary, and a little bit moving as well.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-oh-gosh-is-it-going-to-be-one-of-those-hide-behind-your-hands-kind-of-shows">Oh gosh! Is it going to be one of those hide behind your hands kind of shows?</h2>



<p>I really hope so. It runs from the 27 September and we&#8217;re going on the premiere night, but I keep thinking I might go back on Halloween because I do love being a scaredy cat.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-interests-you-about-the-gothic-and-ghostly-horror-stories">What interests you about the gothic and ghostly horror stories?</h2>



<p>So I think it is a fascination with, I don&#8217;t want to say death, that sounds so morbid but, you know, what happens to us after we die. I do find that really fascinating. I&#8217;ve always believed we don&#8217;t just die and sort of go to the earth and all our energy and personality disappears. I&#8217;ve always believed we go on and there&#8217;s the potential of contact between the dead and the living. I also just love being frightened in that sort of chilling, ghost story way.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-do-you-have-a-favourite-ghost-story-or-book-that-you-draw-inspiration-from">Do you have a favourite ghost story or book that you draw inspiration from?</h2>



<p>So <em>The Whistling</em> draws heavily from <em>The Turn of the Screw</em> by Henry James in terms of the nanny, although it does move in a very different direction. I also do vaguely reference a book called <em>Oh, Whistle, and I&#8217;ll Come to You, My Lad</em> by M. R. James. <em>The Whistling</em> has this theme of being able to call the dead back from death with a physical instrument. In the M. R. James story, I think the concept of that has always been one of the most chilling concepts I&#8217;ve ever read in horror and ghost stories. The fact he calls back some entity from the grave is deeply horrifying.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1500" height="2225" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/berkshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2024/07/photos_frompasttofuture-MTI-La8-eTA-unsplash.jpg" alt="ghost story" class="wp-image-69184" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/berkshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2024/07/photos_frompasttofuture-MTI-La8-eTA-unsplash.jpg 1500w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/berkshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2024/07/photos_frompasttofuture-MTI-La8-eTA-unsplash-539x800.jpg 539w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/berkshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2024/07/photos_frompasttofuture-MTI-La8-eTA-unsplash-674x1000.jpg 674w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/berkshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2024/07/photos_frompasttofuture-MTI-La8-eTA-unsplash-270x400.jpg 270w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/berkshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2024/07/photos_frompasttofuture-MTI-La8-eTA-unsplash-768x1139.jpg 768w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/berkshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2024/07/photos_frompasttofuture-MTI-La8-eTA-unsplash-1036x1536.jpg 1036w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/berkshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2024/07/photos_frompasttofuture-MTI-La8-eTA-unsplash-1381x2048.jpg 1381w" sizes="(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px" /></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-ever-had-any-spine-tingling-experiences-yourself">Ever had any spine-tingling experiences yourself?</h2>



<p>There&#8217;s been a few. I&#8217;ve had an instance of my great grandmother trying to contact me through a friend&#8217;s mum. She&#8217;d been going to a spiritualist church and kept getting picked out by the medium and told a woman had a message for her who she went on to describe in vivid detail. It went on for about a year and it suddenly dawned on her it could be someone coming through to me. It turned out it was my great grandmother. </p>



<p>She was actually a suffragette and very eccentric. She rode around in black leathers on a motorbike, in a absolutely disgraced middle class society where she lived. The medium was actually describing her. I&#8217;d never even told my friend about her, but my mother then confirmed it. I&#8217;ve never been able to understand an explanation for how. I feel like when talking about ghosts, it doesn&#8217;t always have to be like a scary thing either. To a lot of people, it&#8217;s quite comforting. Since my grandfather was a child, he had a woman in gray come and sit at the end of his bed every night of his life too.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-you-live-in-reading-what-do-you-love-about-where-you-live">You live in Reading. What do you love about where you live?</h2>



<p>So I live in Emmer Green. I&#8217;ve seen Reading change so much &#8211;  it was pretty grim when we first moved here when I was 11. But now I love the countryside around us. I just love the walks and the greenery and the nature.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-fave-local-spot-to-feel-inspired">Fave local spot to feel inspired?</h2>



<p>It&#8217;s true of a lot of writers but I do find walking and being in the fresh air is something I find really invigorating. It&#8217;s a really nice way of jogging ideas out of their hiding places and sort of opens out the imagination sometimes. Plus, you know, you can breathe a bit more deeply in the countryside.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-have-you-got-a-favourite-walk">Have you got a favourite walk?</h2>



<p>I just tend to go to Clayfield Copse or somewhere like that. Sometimes I go round by Sonning Eye and just walk out there along the river. It&#8217;s beautiful.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1000" height="1587" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/berkshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2024/07/81IdLTT67zL._AC_UF8941000_QL80_.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-69185" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/berkshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2024/07/81IdLTT67zL._AC_UF8941000_QL80_.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/berkshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2024/07/81IdLTT67zL._AC_UF8941000_QL80_-504x800.jpg 504w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/berkshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2024/07/81IdLTT67zL._AC_UF8941000_QL80_-630x1000.jpg 630w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/berkshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2024/07/81IdLTT67zL._AC_UF8941000_QL80_-252x400.jpg 252w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/berkshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2024/07/81IdLTT67zL._AC_UF8941000_QL80_-768x1219.jpg 768w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/berkshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2024/07/81IdLTT67zL._AC_UF8941000_QL80_-968x1536.jpg 968w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-are-you-reading-right-now">What are you reading right now?</h2>



<p><em>For</em> <em>Thy Great Pain, Have Mercy on My Little Pain</em> by Victoria McKenzie. It is a really unusual title, but it&#8217;s absolutely fascinating. It&#8217;s based on the writings of Dame Julian of Norwich who lived back during the time of the Peasants&#8217; Revolts in the 1400s. She saw visions of God and lived cloistered in a nunnery.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-any-new-books-on-the-horizon">Any new books on the horizon? </h2>



<p>Yes, I&#8217;m working on my third gothic ghost story. I say working, I&#8217;m sort of more in the tearing my hair out and staring out of the window stage with this. But, yes, I&#8217;m doing another potential horror book with a ghost in it.</p>



<p><em><strong><a href="https://millatsonning.com/shows/the-whistling/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Whistling</a> will be on at The Mill at Sonning Theatre between 27 Sep &#8211; 16 Nov with tickets starting at £74 including a two-course meal. Get yours <a href="https://millatsonning.com/shows/the-whistling/">here</a>.</strong></em></p>


Hide and shriek! This local author’s chilling novel is soon apparating to a stage near you

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