On the 30th October I Went to see the play of Haunting of Hill House at the old court theatre in Chelmsford, it was the day before Halloween which really suited the genre of the play which was horror.
We were given a programme at the start which included the words from the director who said 'There isn't a lot of horror on stage, there have been countless comedies and musicals...' which I agree, he said 'I think horror on stage is something very special indeed'. The play was based upon the story of 'Hill House' which was re-created for people to go and watch for Halloween.
The narrative for this production was easily understandable and was really well written as I knew what was going on which was clever as only eight characters were used. It included just two scene settings on the stage, the lounge of a house and a bedroom which made it even better.
The story was that three guests had been invited to spend time in a haunted house with a doctor and to record everything that happened to them. Each night became more frightening to watch as lighting was used very effectively as the ghost of the girl who previously lived in the house appeared to haunt the visitors.
Eventually one of the characters became too involved in the house and is then the victim of the ghost. Through out the play, this girl is sent around the house as she is tangled in with the ghost making other people in the story get up to see where this girl has gone making them see the ghost.
When ever the ghost was seen sound and lighting was used remarkably well which made the audience jump and gasp with fright. This was how the production worked so well as it couldn't have been improved. Low-key lighting was used throughout the whole story and was enhanced when the use of a torch was introduced. One of the most scary parts of the story was when the stage was completely dark but the character had got up in the night and went to the lounge, as the torch shone around the room the ghost was visible and nothing else which was terrifying as it was unexpected but as the torch looked back she had gone. Another good way lighting was used was when lights flickered at times where abnormal events occurred which created suspense.
Props in the play included the torch and the dolls on the shelves in the bedroom. The dolls made the typical sound of a child toy but as it was in a scary scene this was used for contrapuntal sound as a child's toy is used in a horror film which wouldn't normally be seen together. The dolls were a relevant part to the story as the girl used them to calm her down before she went to bed so before all the supernatural events happened.
Makeup and costume were a big part of the story, the characters had dark makeup to create an eerie scene but wore casual clothing to show they were just ordinary people visiting the house. One girl wore black throughout the whole story and was the brave character. The other girl visiting was less brave and she wore bright clothes and the other two roles wore normal casual clothes. The best makeup used was the ghost which was needed because they used pale creepy makeup to allow the audience to know who she was they presented her as a shy girl as she never said anything and when the light shone on her she had no facial expressions which made her more disturbing.
The play used a key prop of a door in the lounge which was always locked apart from the ending when the girl was becoming haunted by the ghost opened it and that was when she had become a ghost as she was taken by the girl who used to live there.
The play ended when the stage again went dark and there was a pause. Suddenly the doors to the lounge swung open and there stood the two ghost who just stared into the audience. This was a really effective ending as the audience walked away with fear.
One of my favourite genres are horror so I really enjoyed watching this production as it was different and I had never seen any other horrors on stage before even the atmosphere of the room gave suspense which made the night unique.