Ghostlight

Grade: B+

Ghostlight is about a construction worker who unwittingly (and later wittingly) joins a bare-bones community theatre production of a Shakespeare play. He’s Dan, played by Keith Kupferer. When I learned on IMDb that he played Jud in Oklahoma in high school, my immediate thought was “Oh, okay. So he HAS done some acting before.” Momentarily forgetting that he’s starring in a movie, and has tons of other credits – so of course he’s acted before. Ghostlight will have that effect on a viewer. Here is a movie played so organically and naturalistically that it’s easy to take these characters seriously.

It’s a family project. Kupferer’s wife Tara Mallen plays his wife Sharon, and their daughter Katherine Mallen Kupferer plays their daughter Daisy. The father and daughter have tempers. Daisy just got a “vacation” from school, and Dan has an outburst on a driver who almost hit him while he was crossing the street on a job. Rita (Dolly De Leon from Triangle of Sadness), who “knows” Dan from interactions when she’s complained about the loud construction, invites him into a rehearsal with the troupe. She senses he has some undealt-with issues, and thinks this might be a cathartic experience for him.

Dan has had a tragedy in his family. I won’t say exactly what – just that the play they’re putting on (Romeo and Juliet) has subject matter that hits extremely close to home for him. Rita, who is more the age of Lady Capulet or the Nurse, is playing Juliet. One thing leads to another, and Dan finds himself stepping into the role of Romeo. Though he enjoys being in the play, he’s almost embarrassed about it, because of what people might think, so he doesn’t tell his family, and gives his wife lines like “I’m going out for a beer with the guys for a couple hours.” Doing this most every weeknight arouses some suspicions.

The way Daisy finds out is not one of the film’s prouder moments. It happens to be a rehearsal where Dan and Rita are working on blocking and becoming comfortable with their onstage intimacy scenes. After not being heard coming in through the loud squeaky front door, not noticing that it’s obviously a theatre space, she holds up her phone announcing “Get ready to go viral, cheater! Say hi to mom.” It’s a couple minutes of overreacting before she’s finally convinced that they’re rehearsing a play. Surprising that she wouldn’t pick up on the clues sooner, given that she’s a theatre person, too. 

Katherine Mallen Kupferer is awesome and energetic as Daisy. I loved a scene where she talks to her dad about an element of the business that doesn’t come up often in plays or movies – kissing on stage. As a stage actor for 33 years, I’ve done that. Most of the people I’ve kissed on stage weren’t my type anyway, and it’s just part of the job. But there have been a couple favorites. I wonder if any other actors, who are honest with themselves, have felt the same way. Tara Mallen is tremendous as the long-suffering wife of this recently suffering family. She has so many levels. And holding it all together is Keith Kupferer as Dan, who – as I said – convincingly plays an inexperienced actor.

This isn’t your cookie cutter movie where some sub-par community theatre actors suddenly become brilliant Olivier-like performers on show night. They are still how they are, but they have heart, commitment, they suit the action to the word, and find an emotional connection to the text – which is sometimes more important. It’s cute and poignant how overjoyed they are to get to put on the play at a school gymnasium. It’s their Central Park, or Madison Square Garden. Ghostlight is a heavy but sweet, affectionate ode to theatre-as-therapy. “Let’s do a comedy next time,” Rita tells Dan at the end.

Grade: B+