THE title said it all. The evening of three monologues had been selected by Rebecca Vaughan from a mass of such works written by women in Victorian England.

They followed the dictionary description of Gothic as 'works about supernatural or horrifying events popular in the 18th and 19th centuries'.

Rebecca appeared in a beautiful, black, period dress. Her strong, clear delivery was supported by skilful light and sound effects that added greatly to the atmosphere of suspense.

The three pieces each lasted around 25 minutes so that, without an interval, this was demanding on the audience although improvements in the air conditioning at the Mercure Hotel helped.

However, as the stories were very different, the time passed quickly.

This was a very professional production with great attention to detail.

The extinguishing of a candle at the end of each story being just one of the careful touches that built up the drama.

I don't think any of the audience would have been unable to sleep that night as a result of seeing the show, but they would certainly have been entertained.

Could these tales of horror have been made creepier? Probably, but Rebecca later said that she had deliberately wished to stick to the original text.

Review by Brian Weaving.