Helen Alving is almost in the clear. Having endured 19 torturous years of marriage and having sent away her only son, Oswald, to protect him from the hedonistic influence of his father, tomorrow she will unveil Captain Alving’s memorial and forever ensure he is remembered as an honourable man. But, with Oswald returned home, dark secrets begin to spill.

Ghosts is Director Josh Cleary’s adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s searing 1882 ‘family-drama in three acts’, Gengangere – a Danish word meaning both ‘ghosts’ and ‘events which come back’. Ibsen’s unflinching examination of the twisted affluence of the 19th-century Norwegian middle class was received by his contemporaries with disgust: this is a play intended to shock, to grant sickening insight. Recreating this reaction has been a consistent issue for 21st-century productions as numbers of the genuinely religious dwindle and the threat of syphilis (at least in the West) no longer colours our nightmares. Cleary’s attempt to recapture this sense of horror by transposing the action to 1990s London is admirable. I just wish he had been more successful.

One of the strongest elements of Cleary’s adaptation is the change of Regina, the Alvings’ maid, to Rex. A young man apparently virtually raised by Mrs Alving, Elliot Francas-Mellor’s Rex is convincingly exasperated and works nicely as a foil to Harry Orwell as the rough-around-the-edges, transparently manipulative Jacob. These two introduce the LGBT strand of the adaptation with suitable euphemistic awkwardness, and Orwell’s vivacity in particular was a breath of fresh air as the third act began to drag. It would have been satisfying to get a bit more intensity from Francas-Mellor as he makes a climatic discovery towards the play’s close, but in all fairness it’s a difficult role to navigate, with the original Regina’s experience defined almost entirely by her femininity.

Kim Alexander’s Helen has a pleasing bourgeoise quality, a breathy urgency in her multiple ‘darling!’-s, but there were certainly moments where she resembled Catherine Tate’s ‘Posh Mum’ character a little too closely and struggled to capture the mettle of Ibsen’s protagonist. Her final scene with Oswald – a trembling Zachary Myers who struggled with the charisma needed to carry the role but, to his credit, appeared remarkably unnerved as the action became increasingly grim – had a flash of abrupt but genuine emotion. This climactic scene built well but was noticeably problematic, largely due to the adaptation. The poignancy of Ibsen’s ending (without giving anything away) lies in the fact that we never see Helen choose between two tragic outcomes and feel the anguish of the choice ourselves as, in a way, we too are forced to choose, while this production simply makes that decision for us and loses that subtlety.

The choice to transform the character of Pastor Manders into a female reverend seemed poorly thought through. Annabel Bolton had a lightness and naturalness which worked well, opting to appear more often as a figure of comic hyperbole than Ibsen’s intimidating force, which formed a decent comment on the evolving role of religion, but I remained frustrated by the unfulfilled possibilities of her character. Ibsen brings to life a painful love between Helen and Manders, neglected by both for the sake of reputation, which this adaptation omits. Considering that Cleary was already attempting to use the play as a device to discuss LGBT issues, substituting HIV for syphilis, it felt odd that the possibility of a lesbian relationship between Helen and Manders remained ignored.

Ultimately, I’m just not sure this adaption works. In the show’s preview, Cleary claimed he aims for it to sound “as natural as possible,” but hasn’t bothered to update much of the language – does anyone unironically hurl the word “scoundrel” anymore? If you do choose to see it, do yourself a favour and at least read the Ibsen – it’s certainly a cut above.

That being said, there is still much worth of praise here. The acting is often sensitive and always competent; the direction is a little clumsy at times but functional; the lighting (Matt Jefford) is suitably naturalistic, and the costume (Betti Simon), when it fits, is astute and realistic. As an added plus, this production collects donations for the Terrence Higgins Trust, a charity devoted to eradicating HIV, so it’s undoubtedly a production that takes its social responsibilities seriously.

Ghosts is on at Pembroke New Cellars until 24th February