Review of Haunted by Geoff Brant

VICTORIA Hall Theatre opened its door to the public, last week, for the first time in seven months, with HAUNTED, a trilogy of spooky tales, written by local dramatist Simon Mawdsley, and presented by Stretch Theatre Company.

Victoria Hall is the perfect setting for a ghost story, and this production certainly delivered the shocks and shivers!

Each story was presented by a lone actor on stage, (much in the style of Alan Bennet’s Talking Heads), creating atmosphere and suspense by simple, but effective staging and the virtuosity of both the writing and the performances.

First up was THE VIEWING, superbly conveyed by Pamela Self-Pierson as Laura, a prospective house-buyer being shown around a vacant property, out in the sticks. The potential dream-home, however, turns into a far more sinister prospect, as Laura begins to view more than just empty rooms.

This was followed by BLIND CORNER, with Molly Jenkins’ gripping portrayal of Jenny, a young girl trapped in a nightmare car journey home, down dark country lanes – a journey which had both actor and audience on the edge of the seats!

Finally, in SMOKE AND MIRRORS, a seemingly innocent purchase from a second-hand clothes store leads to a truly terrifying and unexpected conclusion. This was performed by Emily Millwood, with impeccable timing and subtlety.

All of the stories were set in Essex in the 1970s & 80’s, giving them a great sense of time and place.

The team at Victoria Hall worked hard to make sure the building was safe and thoroughly compliant with current guidelines and, despite the reduced capacity, this was a great success, demonstrating what can be achieved with determination, imagination and that old theatre adage “the show must go on!”