The Witching Hour at Blue Orange Theatre - Review

Post

Subscribe

Fri 29 Sep 2023 - Sat 21 Oct 2023

Birmingham’s Blue Orange Theatre is full of chills and thrills this October with the new spooky tale The Witching Hour.

Created by the same team behind The Witching Hour and The Orphanage, it is in a similar vein with lots of tension, a touch of mystery and plenty of ‘make ‘em jump’ moments.

When student Erin Bailey sets out to research the psychology of responses to witchcraft, she heads off into the woods along with her brother Sam to camp at the crumbling home of Elspeth Langford, a young woman who centuries ago was executed for being a witch. But as darkness falls under a blood moon and the witching hour approaches, the siblings discover that history doesn’t always stay in the past.

And when the family have their own murky history to deal with on this bonding trip, is their personal psychology creating phantoms or is there something sinister lurking between the trees?



Created and directed by James Williams, artistic director and chief executive of JW Theatres, the tale makes the most of the tropes of the ghost story – things go bump in the night, owls hoot, doors mysteriously open and close and characters walk into situations where the rest of us would turn tail and leave.

It also makes great use of the lovely intimate space of the Blue Orange Theatre with the drama coming into the audience and characters popping up all over the place.

The pacing is well balanced with the audience kept jittery throughout, constantly waiting for whatever is going to spook them next.

Mark Kitto is excellent as the affable Professor Dubois who sets Erin on her expedition and also as the twisted Reverend whose trial of Elspeth is about much more than rooting out witchcraft. Kitto also deserves a special mention for the adept way in which he asked a member of the audience to switch off her mobile phone during the production while remaining in character.

Jessica Porter plays the troubled Erin whose eagerness to prove Elspeth’s innocence leads her to put her own safety, and that of her brother, at risk. Jessica has just the right level of trepidation but also determination as things begin to become creepy and she wanders around in the dark with her torch.

Saul Bache is the much more happy-go-lucky brother for whom this camping trip is supposed to be an enjoyable time with his sister. Initially poking fun at any ideas of witches’ curses, we all know he’s likely to come a cropper.



Although she has much less dialogue, in many ways Eleanor May Blackburn has the challenging role as she plays both the alive Elspeth re-telling the truth of her ordeal but also the spirit of Elspeth, haunting her former house in the woods. Appearing suddenly and making everyone jump is the easy part, it’s maintaining that spooky role on stage under the very close scrutiny of the audience which is tougher to achieve. Unfortunately Blackburn is asked to do too much in that role so that she risks becoming a parody of a horror ghost rather than really scary.

Alex Johnson’s set and lighting are suitably eerie – there are some nice touches in the movement from lecture theatre to woods and the haunted house is full of creepy touches. Effective lighting is essential in a ghost story and that works well with us never quite knowing what is going to happen where and when.

There are some inconsistencies in the story and more than a few moments where our belief in the characters’ actions is stretched further than is beneficial for the tale. The ‘shock’ factor is taking precedence over the need for a character to be on stage or behaving in a certain way and there are moments in the finale when you can’t help but think ‘why?’. But ultimately if you go with the flow, this is a show which will have you on the edge of your seats.

The Witching Hour continues at Blue Orange Theatre until 21 October, see here for more information and tickets.

#theatre
#reviews
#arts
#theatre_shows
%wnbirmingham