Nearly five years after it was first performed at the Portland Stage Company, Jeffrey Hatcher’s adaptation of “The Turn of the Screw” is back in Maine for a run at the Penobscot Theatre Company in Bangor.

The language and one-act length of Hatcher’s dramatization, which opened Friday, unquestionably make the tale of horror, based on Henry James’ 1898 novella, more accessible to today’s audiences.

The playwright’s reach, however, may exceed his grasp as he asks but two actors to assume all the roles – the elegantly garbed Collene Frashure playing the eager governess; and the versatile Mark S. Cartier in all the other parts, including the absent master of the household, the housekeeper, the master’s nephew Miles, and the master’s former valet, the late Peter Quint.

The master has sent the new governess to the English country estate of Bly in 1872 to take over the care of 8-year-old Flora, a character who is suggested in the play, but not seen, and her 10-year-old brother, Miles, who recently has been dismissed from his boarding school for unspecified reasons.

The governess delights in her “angels,” in the beautiful mansion where she nurtures the small thought that she might ascend to a place in the master’s heart and in the lonely housekeeper who is so grateful for company.

The delight cannot last where all is black – the costumes, the backdrop, the shrouded arch around the stage. Over the years, many have suggested what follows may be the result of the governess’ neurosis, rather than evil.

Don’t believe it. Evil is alive in the apparitions the young woman begins to see – those of her predecessor, the late Miss Jessel, and the dead Peter Quint. She is hysterical because she ought to be.

Most effective is Quint’s appearance atop the mansion’s tower – seen in the distance by the governess, but above and behind the stage by the audience.

The ghosts are the deceased pair, the housekeeper acknowledges after hearing detailed descriptions from her colleague. Moreover, she explains, they were lovers and up to no good, preying on the children in unspeakable fashion.

Flora finally is sent away with the housekeeper as the governess girds her loins to do battle with Quint’s ghost in order to protect Miles.

With a hint of “Cujo” and a dollop of “The Exorcist,” the climax is absorbing. If only Hatcher knew an ending when he wrote one.

Postscript lines after the end, though brief, are needless and distracting. So are the few spoken sound effects, such as “footfall.” Actually, that one is just silly.

The final scene also makes clear that despite Cartier’s considerable talents – his housekeeper is wonderful and his nephew convincing – the role of the boy calls for a boy in the critical moments.

Yet Greg Mitchell’s set design forebodes, Lynne Chase’s lighting lowers, and Cartier and Frashure

certainly rise to the occasion under Matthew Arbour’s direction.

Cartier is a veteran of Theatre at Monmouth and the Charles Playhouse in Boston, while actor-director Frashure has done several PTC and Maine Shakespeare Festival productions.

Those who gave up on Henry James in college should give the Penobscot Theatre Company performance a try. It’s a good post-Halloween scare.

Penobscot Theatre will present “The Turn of the Screw” at 183 Main St., Thursday-Sunday through Nov. 19. For information, call 942-3333.