(The following are notes that explain the making of Yeats’ haunting play, Purgatory, into a short film. This was produced whilst studying at university, with two other students working on the project).

I first read Purgatory whilst studying Irish theatre at university. I had forgotten all about the play until I was looking through my books to find a suitable script for the film project. We had not decided on a theme at this point and I was flicking through Yeats’ selected plays when I came across Purgatory. I was immediately pulled in. As I read on I was already visualising shots and scenes – ideas were pouring into my head. There was something about it that had an underlying feel to it. I wanted to capture this and hopefully show it on screen. As I now watch the final product, I have noticed that there is ‘something else’ present in the short film. Maybe this will come to me as I write on.

Purgatory is set at a ‘ruined house’ with ‘a bare tree in the background’. Instead of just placing the play in a studio and filming it, the aid of cameras allows you to take the viewers anywhere you can take them, show them what you want and create a world that is unlike the stage. We needed a house that would fit the location and have the same atmosphere as the one described within the play. My first thoughts were of a house that is located just outside Ormskirk, (Lancashire, England), by the rail track to Preston. I nearly went along to the house but it was just too far away to get to and the only way to it was through a farm. It was a shame because right next the house was a huge old tree. It was perfect, but not meant to be.

Our eyes turned to a house called Melrose, on Ruff Lane. I used to go past it several times a week on the way to university and the house has always given off a haunting feeling. I often wondered why it was all boarded up and whether or not the rooms inside were all intact or the floors have fallen through and inside was just an empty shell. Like most places, memories hang around long after people move away and a person visiting can usually ‘pick-up’ on them. But with Melrose, the memories seemed very distant and strange. During our filming the house felt more and more empty, but watching the film, after acting out the events of Purgatory, Melrose seemed to have taken and captured those fictitious events. We had turned an empty shell into a living memory.

Throughout the play there is an underlying feeling of darkness as the Old Man tells us his story. The character seems to live ‘out of time’, as he re-lives the events of his past and explores them. To him, they appear as real as the present day itself. The memories merge with today, which allowed us to use the camera as the eyes and mind of the Old Man. The audience can see what he wants to see, and these create a foundation for the imagery told through his narration. Purgatory relies on the storytelling, and it is this that creates the imagery within the audiences’ minds. When the audience leaves the theatre, the Old Man’s memories become part of them, almost as though they had happened to them. This is something we tried to keep within the film. We could have shown each individual event from his past, but instead we used footage of the woods and of the house, as not to distract the audience away from the dialogue.

W.B.Yeats has chosen a style very similar to that of Noh dramas. The ‘ghosts’, being the memories of the Old Man, are relived events from his past, which is why they haunt the house. He has gone to there to see if he can find a final reckoning, hoping to dispel the ghosts and relieve him of he torment they have caused. Even after he kills his son, the Old Man is still haunted by the ghosts. Again, this was something that needed to be shown on the film.

We put together a storyboard and went off to film some preliminary shots of the woods and house. Although the shots we took were to be re-shot again, (we just wanted to see what they looked like on screen), we ran out of time and it kept raining when we wanted to film. In the end, a lot of the shots used in the final edit where from that first day. Other shots that I filmed of the house, such as a slow panning across the top of the house and my favourite shot of a tree at the back of the house, (which then slowly follows the branches across and then the camera focuses on the house), I had in mind from the start.

I mentioned earlier that there is a presence is the film that I can’t quite describe. This I feel becomes very apparent in the last two minutes. Once the boy is killed and the Old Man becomes more afraid once again of the ghosts and the ‘hoof-beats’ return - that feeling begins to grow. There is a minute long shot of someone/something walking through the woods as he narrates the final part of the play, and on his last line it cuts to the house and slowly the camera pulls away with the ever-growing musical beat. It is here that there is a reminder of the haunting that has taken place. The house is no longer empty as it first appears to be at the beginning. It is now darker and more sinister, filled with memories that are best kept left alone and forgotten about.

Should Purgatory ever be re-shot, I would get rid off the all the wobbly camera shots and keep the continuity following. There are many errors that can easily be ironed out. I would keep it as black and white as this is often associated with ‘flashbacks’, or thing in the past. It would also distract the viewers away from the red colour of the house and scenery in the background (such as other buildings). It wasn’t easy putting it all together - but I do believe we have taken the play and done it justice on film.

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