A ghost light is an electric light that is left energised on the stage of a theatre when the theatre is unoccupied and would otherwise be completely dark. On the one hand it’s a health and safety issue, on the other it is swathed in theatrical superstition. The word takes on another meaning in the film, GHOSTLIGHT.
Not to be confused with Gaslight or a genre horror film that its name may seem suitable for, GHOSTLIGHT is one of those special, low budget, independent films that show up and shake us and remind us how shallow many major marquee movies are.
Blue collar Dan spends his working day jack hammering. He’s middle aged and melancholic and has a hair trigger temper. At home, there seems to be a disconnect from his wife, Sharon, and his teenage daughter, Daisy, is busting his balls with her disruptive behaviour at school.
Almost mystically, he is drawn into the sphere of a local amateur dramatic society and improbably cast as Romeo in their production of Romeo and Juliet. Age, race, or theatrical experience doesn’t seem to matter to this community of performers. It is the community that matters and because of that, the restorative power of plays and playing comes to the fore.
Film makers Alex Thompson and Kelly O’Sullivan, collaborate to create a beautifully moving, gently comic tale about the power of live theatre to make sense of our offstage dramas and personal narratives.
GHOSTLIGHT is a family affair. Dan is played by Keith Kupferer, Sharon is portrayed by Keith’s real life wife, and Tara Mallen, and talented but troubled daughter, Daisy is blazingly defined by Keith and Tara’s actual daughter, Katherine Mallen Kupferer. They are all excellent, as is the supporting cast.
This real-life family Mallen, Kupferer, and Mallen Kupferer bring tenderness and authenticity to this poignant portrait in a reel life presentation that has something of the wow factor.
Romeo and Juliet is both a love story and a tragedy and both those elements are brilliantly emphasised in this gorgeously produced film.
