Information for The Innocents at The Place, Bedford (Play). In the late nineteenth century, a young governess for two orphaned youngsters becomes convinced that their lonely manor house is haunted and that the children are possessed by the spirits of a former caretaker and governess. Along with the housekeeper, she works to discover the truth behind her fears. A powerful play in the gothic tradition, The Innocents is an adaptation of the novella, The Turn of the Screw, by Henry James.