I have never before been asked about a play I was going to see. People asking what it is about, is it scary , did you like it, is it too scary for me, is it worth seeing ?
Let's answer some of those questions now , shall we?
First a bit of background. The play was created by Jeremy Dyson and Andy Nyman in the U.K. It went on to be a hit and is still running in London. Lots of great reviews for it and was nominated at the Olivier awards.
The show has now expanded to Toronto an opened on April 1st at the Panasonic Theatre in Toronto (this is the production I went to see).
Aside from the title being Ghost Stories and the series of warnings claiming that the show is intensely scary and not meant for anyone under the age of 14 (15 in the U.K.) not much else is known. The advertisements show night vision video of gasping patrons watching the show . You never see one second of the play in any form of advertisement. This adds to the mystery and fear but it also could disappoint some people.
The theatre is suitably decorated for the show. The caution tape does have a meaning within the play so it does all make sense .
The theatre is pretty small and was also decorated inside with various aspects of the play. There was more caution tape ,jumbled mannequins and just off to the side a kitty litter tray with a bag of litter .The walls were painted to make it seem like a disused building . There was flickering construction style lighting and they played the disturbing sound effects ( sort of moaning, water dripping etc). It was very creepy. We also noticed the numbers written in chalk on the walls . We wondered what they meant but that was for the play to answer .
Then it began. It was a moment of oh... ok. This isn't what I was expecting. There was some interaction with the audience. Some nervous laughter. A lot of people relaxed. Some were a bit confused. Hahaha being lulled into a false sense of security.
I don't want to give too much away (especially since they asked us all so nicely to keep the secret as we left the theatre ;)) Let's just say that it starts slowly . It sets the theme and the pace gradually builds . It does give you a sense of this is real and this is not and then POW turns everything on it's head.
We experience 3 different "stories" in this play . They each have a different kind of horror and each one is sort of scarier than the next. Oh also - you may get wet. mwahahahahahaha. You aren't just a casual observer in this play. You become a part of it.
It talks a lot about guilt . That is a big part of this play. GUILT. It ties all the parts together with a big red bow at the end .
The tension was great and the scares were definitely there. I would have to say this is the scariest theatre event I have ever seen. There were also some nice laughs to make it bearable. I almost get the feeling they removed some of the scares however, since it seemed like certain parts weren't as scary as they could have been and there were some slow parts. This play could have been nightmarishly frightening if they had wanted it that way.
The end also seem to lose all that connection we had built up over the play , the participation The immediacy and threat level just didn't work . We were again removed from the story and while it was disturbing and yes scary - it could have been so much more .
It was great but I did feel it didn't live up to the warnings about how scary this play was. If they hadn't made such a big deal about the fear and building such a strong anticipation I think I would have been over the moon with this play . As it was the scares disappointed me slightly. (please,please, please let me warn you it IS scary - I am just hard to scare. Do not take young kids to this.) I just felt it didn't quite live up to the hype.
Overall this is in my opinion a must see for anyone who likes ghost stories and horror movies. You won't wet your pants but you will get some thrills and chills.
4 stars out of 5 .
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