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GrimFest 2023
Four wonderfully crafted shorts provide the best way to spend the spookiest night of the yearSummary
Rating
Excellent
It’s Halloween, so it’d be remiss not to spend it with a little horror– especially when it comes in the form of an anthology put together by the spooky hands of Nina Atesh. Although it’s actually Nicholas Benjamin’s hands that we find ourselves in as the spectacular compère, Dr Bliss, resplendent in top hat and tails, giving off rather strong Mad Hatter vibes.
Mr Bliss leads us through four spooky shorts, and whilst the frights might be a little on the light side, and the fake blood doesn’t make an appearance until the finale, all four still manage to entertain and offer a taster of what these writers could conjure up in the future.
Talking of the final tale, it is Atesh’s The Hollow Ice that’s the show stealer, offering a true testament to both her writing and acting skills. The story of two Antarctic explorers stranded alone, and yet quite possibly having discovered alien life, certainly takes us down an unexpected route. Having died in the icy waters, Nadia Lamin’s Professor is a ghostly presence. Whispering thoughts into Atesh’s ear is superbly played out, leaving us wondering just what actually happened to the pair in the ice. The Hollow Iceis taken from a full-length piece which I will absolutely be seeking out should it make a return.
But whilst The Hollow Ice is the grand finale, that’s not to say the three preceding stories aren’t also a lot of eerie fun. Compère Dr Bliss ties everything together, helping to build a sinister feel as he carefully tricks us into the first story, Christopher Stagg’s The Frightmare. It’s classic Halloween fare as a cocky audience volunteer finds himself facing his deepest fears. It has a lovely claustrophobic feel to it that works well in the confines of The Old Red Lion‘s dark wooden room, the blackouts and banging walls helping to give the required atmosphere.
Gavin Charles’ Birth Rite is another that follows a classic horror path. Birthday boy Martyn finds himself alone for a 40th birthday surprise, but that surprise is not what’s in the box left there for him; instead, it is a family secret that he is about to discover. Charles’ performance is full of comic timing that lures us in nicely before the big reveal. It might be slightly more comedy than horror but tackles the always tricky matter of the true horror by taking it off stage, leaving us with just the sounds instead! Wonderfully effective.
Just Jack from Alexander Wright, takes us into an interrogation room, with a man who claims to be Jack the Ripper, except he would have to be 97 years old! Again, it’s the acting that makes it so enjoyable; Simon Moore gives a delightfully creepy performance that makes us suspect he really is a man with an obsession for slaughtering helpless animals since he was a young child, and his ghastly descriptions of the horses’ cries are certainly enough to make you consider turning vegetarian!
The lovely thing with anthologies such as this is that they provide a wonderful opportunity for new writers to test out ideas, as well as allowing an audience to glimpse what’s to come in the future from them. But more than that, Tales From The Hellfire Club is also just a superb way to spend your Halloween evening, in the company of likeminded theatre lovers who hopefully all think that horror shouldn’t just be confined to this time of year. These stories should have a place on stage for the other eleven months of the year.
Written by: Nina Atesh, Christopher Stagg, Gavin Charles and Alexander Wright
Directed by: Nina Atesh, Nicholas Benjamin and Gavin Smith
Produced by: Pither Productions
Tales From The Hellfire Club played at Old Red Lion Theatre as part of GrimFest 2023, and will also be playing 4 November. The festival continues until 4 November. Further information can be found here.
