A Night at the Theatre | The House on Cold Hill
*WARNING* This post WILL include spoilers, if you're yet to see this in the theatre, or read the book, skip through the 'Synopsis' section of this article. Other than that, enjoy the review!
On the 29th January, my family and I paid a visit to the Theatre Royal in Nottingham to see a play based on a book by Peter James. Starring Rita Simons, Joe McFadden and Charlie Clements, the story is based on true events experienced by James himself.
Synopsis
*Friendly reminder, this section contains major spoilers, you have been warned!*
A small family, consisting of a mum (Simons), a dad (McFadden) and their daughter (Persephone Swales-Dawson) move into an extremely old house in need of renovation. Little do they know, the house has a grizzly history.
With previous owners dying under mysterious circumstances, the Harcourts merrily go about their family life completely unaware of the previous occupants' suspicious deaths. But with locals gradually injecting their ghostly stories of being touched by unseen forces and feeling eerily unwelcome whilst on the grounds of the house, these warnings are dismissed as nothing but silly rumours by the new home owners.
However, Chris (Clements), the family's in-house tech whiz to help with their web design business, assures the mother that a good cleaner can be found to help with the maintenance of such a large, old house. Unbeknownst to the trusting family, the cleaner is a gifted psychic and started receiving messages of caution from beyond the grave.
Having failed to heed the warning from those who have departed, the family start experiencing sinister, ghostly happenings and so they rethink their strategy in a bid to rid the house of the malevolent spirit that seemingly resides with them. A séance is conducted in an attempt to help the disturbed ghost to move onto the next realm. As a result of their actions, information comes through detailing that this ghost won't forget what has happened to them and nor will they will forgive the dreadful deed.
Having interpreted the message collectively, it was decided that the family would go on the hunt to find the spirit's body to help it feel at peace. In the interim, the family slowly unveiled the history of the house, with the help of the local priest in the village. It was found that while the house was being built, a woman lived there with her husband, who eventually had an affair and acquired a mistress. But shortly after, it was found his new found love had fallen pregnant and so, in a bid to prevent his wife from finding out about his illegitimate sexual relationship and subsequent unborn children, he murders his wife and hides her body somewhere in the property, never to be found.
In the aftermath of his wife's unlawful killing, his mistress gave birth to two children, both of whom died, and eventually, so did their mother. In a fit of grief and misery, the murderous husband killed himself, notably on his 40th birthday, on the grounds of the property. Ever since then, whoever moved into the house died in unfortunate events, a curse which seems to have left the house riddled with ghosts from it's spine tingling past.
It was then believed by locals that it's the angry spirit of the 'grey lady' who had initially occupied the house. Still bitter about her grossly unfair, premature death, she had since set about to punish any future occupants. She was robbed of the chance to be happy in the house, and so in her opinion, no one else had the right to either.
Armed with this new information, the family began fearing for their lives and so frantically set about looking for the body of the 'grey lady'. As lights started to illuminate a room the family didn't even know existed, the father (McFadden) began bashing down an adjoining wall to the newly discovered room, only to find the crusty skeleton of the 'grey lady'.
As their mission had been accomplished, the family called the police who saw to it that the body was taken away and the Harcourts eventually went about their business. However, when a simple mother/daughter trip to the supermarket ends in tragedy, the father soon realises that the family had been lead into a false sense of security by the scheming ghost, remembering that she had highlighted the fact she wouldn't forgive or forget what had happened to her. Petrified by the sudden bomb-shell, he runs out of the house, slamming the door behind him, BUT, just as that happens, the porch topples down on top of him, crushing him to death. The family then join the grey lady, along with her previous victims, in the afterlife, bound to haunt the house for eternity.
What Did I Think?
I thought the play was cleverly executed. The use of shadows and lighting made for the ultimate, edge-of-your-seat material that immediately made the audience feel uneasy. I found myself looking behind me quite often, just to check that there wasn't someone, or something, untoward stood behind us.
As well as visual effects being used to keep the audience jittery, background music was also used to create tension. As soon as the low, sombre hum of musical torture echoes around the theatre, the safe feeling that took ages for you to acquire disappears into a cloud of smoke, and is rapidly replaced by the kind of fear which makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. Collectively, making for a wonderfully relaxing theatre experience...
The actors were very talented. Something you'd expect from ex EastEnders and Holby City actors, as well as a Strictly Come Dancing champion (McFadden), so their repertoires are pretty extensive. They made it very believable, enticing the audience into their small, pretend world. With Simons' signature dramatic tones, McFadden's down-to-earth persona and Clements' extraordinary execution of a typical technological wizard, they make for the ultimate dream team in the world of theatre.
The set was also very cleverly put together, made to feel as though we were sat in their living room, the audience were deliberately put right where the action was. We were able to see into the makeshift porch, doors to back rooms, the cellar, a bathroom and their teenage daughter's bedroom, we had a fantastic view of virtually every single angle of the stage. The walls and floors were made to look like real stone slabs, giving the feel of an old, cold, eerie, gothic house.
Overall, I was very impressed by the acting skills, the set and the special effects that were used to execute this play. It can often be quite hard to direct ghostly shows and make them seem realistic and believable for the audience. The only thing I would say, is that it could have been made a little more scary by placing the 'grey lady' actor around the theatre, perhaps have her sat in a balcony or at the side of an aisle, just to make people jump and keep them on edge. It would constantly have me wondering where on Earth she'd appear next. But maybe there's something about health and safety which means that can't be done. But I'd definitely look into it if I was the director of this play!
To conclude, it was excellent and well worth the money. If the supernatural or paranormal genre is your thing, you'd love this play. Check out where they're going next and perhaps book yourself into the ultimate, spine tingling theatre experience.
***
Have you been to see 'The House on Cold Hill'? Where did you see it? What did you think? Have you read the book? Let me know in the comments below and I will be back really soon with another post for you!
***
WHERE TO FIND ME
PREVIOUS BLOG POST
COPYRIGHT INFORMATION
Comments
Post a Comment