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Review: Even More Ghost Stories by Candlelight, The Weston Studio, Bristol Old Vic – ‘Pure visceral theatre’
A dirty wall with leaking and cracked pipes curves around a utilitarian wire-meshed window. A red functional door with old, stained edges is to one side. It suggests someone might enter at any moment.
Candles flicker in front of a plain black plastic chair. Two small mounds of rock lie to one side.
This is the scene that greets the audience upon arrival. Along with eerie, moody music. And a sense of foreboding.
is needed now More than ever
Even More Ghost Stories by Candlelight completes a trilogy of shows produced by High Tide, a writer-centred company based in the east of England.
Together with their partners Pentabus, a rural company based in Shropshire, they bring their new show, designed to reimagine the Victorian ghost story into the modern age.
Told through four separate stories, but linked through a white horse theme running throughout, two performers, Sarita Gabony and Keaton Guimarães-Tolley, take turns over the 80 minutes to dramatise the tales.
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Like the frights in store, the image of the white horse pops up in unexpected ways.
We first meet Guimarães-Tolley in the highly compelling The White Horse, written by Florence Espeut-Nickless.
He is addressing an unseen psychiatric medical professional with a combination of laddish attitude, bravado, and subtly masked fear. He has been sent to a correctional facility in Melksham and lionised by his schoolmates for his time in rough Swindon.
“They think it’s like Detroit,” he boasts, but his tale soon strips away his bluster. And it is a knee-trembling, scary one.
The excellence of the lighting changes, sound design, illusions, and movement is apparent from this first scene, and the combination establishes that we are seeing top-notch action. Forget that this is a Halloween-inspired show; it works as pure visceral theatre.
The second instalment, Cold Oak Lane by Simon Longman, is the least impressive of the four and more inclined to lapse into a more orthodox ghostly story, with a stranger in the pub intoning a warning to the young woman sitting alone. It builds up nicely, but we are eager to hear more.
The Takeover by Anne Odeke brings Guimarães-Tolley back to the stage, this time having a one-sided conversation through earbuds to his girlfriend. He is an Essex boy, intent on once again experiencing extreme exploration into forgotten places.
He has rowed out across the estuary to the abandoned Layer Marney Towers, used as anti-aircraft defences in World War Two.
He sets up his phone tripod and records his narrative to the “53 legends” who have subscribed to his podcast. But then strange things happen as long-forgotten voices take over.
The final tale, Consequence of Diving Lots by Rosa Torr and performed by Gabony, is a warning against the perils of being a nosy parker and what happens when you disrupt the forces that cannot be explained.
If you want scares, shivers, and shocks, then this is for you, but you will also benefit from a superb theatrical production with spellbinding direction and a startling immersive experience.
Even More Ghost Stories by Candlelight is at The Weston Studio, Bristol Old Vic on October 21-25 at 8pm (6.30pm on 22). Tickets are available at www.bristololdvic.org.uk. Follow @pentabustheatrecompany and @_hightidetheatre_ for updates.
Main photo: Pentabus/HighTide
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