Post by santtu on Sept 23, 2010 15:18:21 GMT -5
Ok, this is not a musical, it is a play. But very different from any play I've ever seen so I decided to say "a few" words about it here.
I hadn't even heard of this play before I happened to pass by the theatre this show plays in London. I noticed they had a tv-screen facing the street and instead of showing some ads or material of the play itself, they were showing the audience reactions (clutching others, screaming in horror etc.) during a performance! I read some reviews they had put up outside the theatre and I was intrigued. So I went to see this.
It was an experience like no other I've had in a theatre anywhere!
The show runs only 80 mins without intermission.
The mood is set right when you step into the theatre. There's black-and-yellow tape everywhere, numbers drawn on the walls with a chalk, an oil-puddle -like patch of latex plastic on the landing of the stairs etc. The auditorium itself has been decorated in the same style, only the lights are so dim one can hardly see the numbers and letters on the seats and rows! Every once in a while the lights brighten up a bit only for a second or so and then dim again. There's a sound of dripping water and a strange humming constantly on the background before the show starts.
The show is performed by 4 actors plus one assistant.
Without giving too much away of the plot, the 'frame' of the story is the professor Phillip Goodman's lecture about paranormal activity and, well, ghost stories. In this frame, there's three stories. First up is the story told and acted by a night guard. It starts quite slowly, it takes quite long to get going. Second seems at first a classic scary story - a young man returning from a party and his car breaks down in the middle of the forest road - but it comes clear very quickly that it is not what you expected it to be. This second story proceeds in a faster pace than the first one. The third story is about a business man who has just had his first child. And this story ends in a strange way - it doesn't really end, but evolves into the finale of the show, which takes everyone by surprise! (The finale also explains the decorations of the theater.)
I didn't really expect them to manage to create such shock effects like they have in the movies, after all, this was live theatre! But they had managed to do exactly that. I couldn't help myself, I screamed out of fright in two moments (end of second story and during the finale)
And I wasn't the only one - not by a longshot!! I was sitting in front of this very big, tall guy, and even he screamed a couple of times during the show!
Even though the beginning of the play is a little tedious and long, once the play gets going, it is surprising, frightening, funny, inventive and very well excecuted! (Can't recall ever experiencing smell effects in a theatre before!! But here they use it.) The show's writers Jeremy Dyson and Andy Newman (who also plays the professor P. Goodman) have managed to avoid clichés.
So, if you happen to be in London and you're looking for something different to see in theatre, this is worth seeing! That is, if your nerves can take it...
Really fun experience!
(A note from the producers printed on the cover of the program: "Warning: Please be advised that GHOST STORIES contains moments of extreme shock and tension. The show is unsuitable for anyone under the age of 15. We strongly advise those of a nervous disposition to think very seriously before attending." I agree.)
I hadn't even heard of this play before I happened to pass by the theatre this show plays in London. I noticed they had a tv-screen facing the street and instead of showing some ads or material of the play itself, they were showing the audience reactions (clutching others, screaming in horror etc.) during a performance! I read some reviews they had put up outside the theatre and I was intrigued. So I went to see this.
It was an experience like no other I've had in a theatre anywhere!
The show runs only 80 mins without intermission.
The mood is set right when you step into the theatre. There's black-and-yellow tape everywhere, numbers drawn on the walls with a chalk, an oil-puddle -like patch of latex plastic on the landing of the stairs etc. The auditorium itself has been decorated in the same style, only the lights are so dim one can hardly see the numbers and letters on the seats and rows! Every once in a while the lights brighten up a bit only for a second or so and then dim again. There's a sound of dripping water and a strange humming constantly on the background before the show starts.
The show is performed by 4 actors plus one assistant.
Without giving too much away of the plot, the 'frame' of the story is the professor Phillip Goodman's lecture about paranormal activity and, well, ghost stories. In this frame, there's three stories. First up is the story told and acted by a night guard. It starts quite slowly, it takes quite long to get going. Second seems at first a classic scary story - a young man returning from a party and his car breaks down in the middle of the forest road - but it comes clear very quickly that it is not what you expected it to be. This second story proceeds in a faster pace than the first one. The third story is about a business man who has just had his first child. And this story ends in a strange way - it doesn't really end, but evolves into the finale of the show, which takes everyone by surprise! (The finale also explains the decorations of the theater.)
I didn't really expect them to manage to create such shock effects like they have in the movies, after all, this was live theatre! But they had managed to do exactly that. I couldn't help myself, I screamed out of fright in two moments (end of second story and during the finale)
And I wasn't the only one - not by a longshot!! I was sitting in front of this very big, tall guy, and even he screamed a couple of times during the show! Even though the beginning of the play is a little tedious and long, once the play gets going, it is surprising, frightening, funny, inventive and very well excecuted! (Can't recall ever experiencing smell effects in a theatre before!! But here they use it.) The show's writers Jeremy Dyson and Andy Newman (who also plays the professor P. Goodman) have managed to avoid clichés.
So, if you happen to be in London and you're looking for something different to see in theatre, this is worth seeing! That is, if your nerves can take it...
Really fun experience!(A note from the producers printed on the cover of the program: "Warning: Please be advised that GHOST STORIES contains moments of extreme shock and tension. The show is unsuitable for anyone under the age of 15. We strongly advise those of a nervous disposition to think very seriously before attending." I agree.)