The Dark Behind the Curtain by Gillian Cross
**Overview of "The Dark Behind the Curtain" by Gillian Cross**
"The Dark Behind the Curtain" is a supernatural thriller that revolves around a group of schoolchildren rehearsing a version of the infamous tale of Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street. The story begins with Colin, a reluctant participant in the play, who finds himself in a dangerous situation after being coerced into acting by the headmaster, Mr. Garner. As rehearsals progress, the line between fiction and reality blurs, with eerie occurrences and the emotional turmoil of the characters becoming increasingly palpable. Colin and Ann, another student, begin to sense that the spirits of Sweeney Todd's victims are haunting their production, influencing the behavior of their peers, particularly Marshall, who takes on a menacing role.
Throughout the narrative, themes of friendship, fear, and moral choices emerge, especially as Colin seeks to confront the darkness that threatens to consume Ann and the group. The climax unfolds during the play's opening night, where Colin intervenes to save both Ann and Marshall from the haunting legacy of Sweeney Todd. Gillian Cross masterfully builds tension, inviting readers into a tale that examines the complexities of relationships and the impact of historical traumas. Ultimately, the story emphasizes the importance of confronting fear to break free from the past, making it a compelling read for young audiences interested in supernatural themes blended with deeper moral questions.
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Subject Terms
The Dark Behind the Curtain by Gillian Cross
First published: 1982; illustrated
Type of work: Thriller
Themes: The arts, friendship, poverty, and the supernatural
Time of work: The late twentieth century
Recommended Ages: 13-15
Locale: A school somewhere in England
Principal Characters:
Colin Jackus , a boy assigned to participate in the school play as penance for allegedly having tried to steal tape recorders from the schoolAnn Ridley , a fat, sensitive girl who realizes, along with Colin, that the school play is attracting the negative emotions of the deadMarshall , a bully and a clever liar, who has actually set up Colin to steal the tape recordersMiss Lampeter , the teacher who directs the play, and who encourages the children to create fear and misery in itMr. Garner , the school’s strict but fair headmaster
The Story
The Dark Behind the Curtain opens with a rehearsal of Miss Lampeter’s version of Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. The play is about Sweeney Todd, a barber in the London slums in the late nineteenth century who kills customers by cutting their throats so he can rob them and put them into meat pies, and about the people who serve him. These people include Mrs. Lovett, played by Ann Ridley, Jarvis Williams, a starving child played by Colin Jackus, and other starving children played by other students in the school. Marshall plays the barber.
Colin participates in the play against his will. Mr. Garner, the school headmaster, has caught him apparently stealing, and has given him the choice of being in the play or being sent to the police. At first, the other students do not want him to participate. Marshall organizes these students to make Colin look foolish, and Miss Lampeter makes it clear that she does not want Colin in the play.
The characters and the play become more real for the children as they rehearse, and as Miss Lampeter encourages them to make their characters come to life. Marshall becomes more vicious, more brutal; like Sweeney Todd, he delights in making the other characters fear him, and like Sweeney Todd he begins to wield a real straightedge razor.
As the play’s reality increases, and the young people’s fear of and hatred for Marshall as Sweeney Todd grows, mysterious occurrences disrupt the rehearsals. A pencil flies by Colin’s head and almost hits Miss Lampeter’s eye. She thinks Colin threw the pencil, so she sends him to the library for punishment. While he is in the library, all of the books fall off the shelves and onto the floor. The other students and Miss Lampeter blame Colin, but Colin and Ann know he is innocent. They realize that the play is attracting either Sweeney Todd’s emotions from the past or his ghost, and the emotions of the people he terrorized or their ghosts.
When Colin tries to explain what is happening to Marshall, Marshall laughs at him and finally destroys the friendship that has been so shaky until that point. When Colin and Ann meet with Mr. Garner about the bizarre events, Colin explains they think the play is allowing the characters it is based on to materialize. Ann denies the idea. Mr. Garner says the play will continue.
At this point, Colin realizes that “the dark behind the curtain” has taken over Ann, and that only he will be able to save Marshall on opening night. When Ann, as Mrs. Lovett, tries to kill Sweeney Todd with his razor, Colin jumps into the scene and stops her. He then shouts to the ghosts of children the real Sweeney Todd victimized that their negative emotions are keeping Sweeney Todd alive, and that they must release their fear and hatred of Sweeney Todd to rid the world of him. Colin’s exorcism works.
The next day Marshall thanks Colin for saving his life. Marshall then offers to confess to Mr. Garner that stealing the tape recorders was his idea, not Colin’s, but Colin rejects the idea and tells Marshall that they are no longer friends.
Context
Gillian Cross has written a number of supernatural thrillers for young people, including A Whisper of Lace (1981), The Demon Headmaster (1982), and The Dark Behind the Curtain (1982). Craighton Hippenhammer has compared her work with that of John Bellairs, the American writer of gothic novels for young people. The comparison holds, except that Bellairs is a more humorous writer than Cross. Bellairs relieves the suspense in his novels with occasional slapstick comedy or outrageous puns, while Cross does not. Instead, the suspense in Cross’s novels is resolved by inevitable but surprising climaxes, such as the ending of The Dark Behind the Curtain.
The Dark Behind the Curtain illustrates Cross’s mastery of her craft, her ability to tell a story clearly and logically. She sets up its ending by presenting Colin as an outsider among the actors from the start. A loner, he has the freedom to act independently, consistently with his own conscience. Miss Lampeter controls him less than she does the other students. The ending is unexpected, but the entire novel builds to it. Similarly, Cross occasionally inserts Ann Ridley’s diary entries into the novel to echo the growing tension, to record Ann’s growing friendship with Colin, and to reinforce how the ghostly manifestations are gradually taking over Ann and her world.
Miss Lampeter rewrites the nineteenth century melodrama about Sweeney Todd for the students to perform, rather than adapting the musical Sweeney Todd, which opened in London in 1980, two years before the novel was published. By having Miss Lampeter do so, Cross places the novel in a larger time frame, without specific references to events that could date and limit the action. The school’s location and the characters’ ages are also kept vague so young readers will easily be able to see their own schools and friendships in the novel.
Gillian Cross has said that she wants to write about “important things: love, death, moral decisions.” By presenting Colin’s friendship with Ann, his pseudo-friendship with Marshall, Ann’s urge to slash Marshall’s throat, and Colin’s decisions to disrupt the play to save Ann and Marshall, Cross accomplishes these purposes in The Dark Behind the Curtain.