A novel and clever take on the werewolf genre, using it to explore a relationship built on co-dependency. It just needs an injection of adrenaline to help keep it moving. Rating
Good
Old Red Lion Playhouse is currently spoiling us lovers of the macabre. No longer do we have to wait until October for our shot of fake blood and unnatural screams. Its latest offering is Werewolf Sighted In Port Talbot, a show that actually started at GrimFest, and has now been reworked for a new run.
Faced with a wonderfully simple yet effective set that looks like it’s been stolen from a display at Go Outdoors, featuring pop-up tent, camping chairs and foldaway table, we have an immediate impression of what’s to come. Because we all know a couple camping in the woods is not going to end well for someone. Except, what makes this a clever and novel approach is that these campers aren’t set to become the unlucky victims, because they already know there’s a werewolf lurking close by; it’s actually one of them.
This is Billy (writer Andy Sellers) and Ffion’s (Lucy Havard) first camping trip together, and a chance to get to know one another more. It’s also a full moon, which offers Ffion a safe place for her monthly change. Billy is there to show support, hough he also seems very desperate to replace Malcolm, another werewolf who seems to have an unhealthy hold over Ffion.
This is certainly a novel approach to the werewolf story, and a way to explore a relationship built on co-dependency. Both elements bring plenty to the campfire and as the day starts to turn into night it’s clear that the real horror isn’t just what Ffion is about to become.
Havard’s Ffion is an absolute show stealer. She is at one moment all coy and reserved, unable to say “I love you” back to an increasingly needy Billy, the next curled up in pain as her body reacts to the rising moon. It’s quite the thing still to come over as wanting to be held close, while chowing down on raw meat lovingly prepared by Billy in his Tupperware dish, but Havard somehow manages it. Her speech on what it’s like to change is a crowning moment, delivered with a blend of anger, fear and honesty.
Her counterpart, Sellers, is less dynamic, and deliberately so. His Billy is rather vanilla, hence the Tupperware, along with his safe driving and obsession with healthy snacks. He is also rather needy and insecure, clearly wanting someone he can shower with his affection. It’s an interesting dynamic, his mansplaining and bouts of jealousy over Malcolm revealing his true self, with a need to control every detail of their relationship, right down to how she should go through her change.
The main problem with the show is that in-between some standout moments, it’s all just a little too plodding. It feels as if the show has expanded from its shorter festival version to this fuller length, yet in doing so is stretched a little too thinly. Those great moments are interspersed with scenes that just need an injection of adrenaline.
Thankfully just before it completely grinds to a halt the introduction of the mysterious Kat (Jenny Wall) sparks the fires to life, forcing the loved-up couple to confront some home truths. And whilst I’d question the story arc taken there’s no doubt that director Adrian Greensmith relishes the closing scenes to remind us that this is, at heart, a horror story.
There’s an interesting and fun story being told here. It’s just let down by that plodding pace it seems insistent on at times. But if it could cut down on the excess fat and focus more on what is good in its depiction of a rather strained relationship, there’s no reason this couldn’t become a much more meaty meal.
Written by Andy Sellers
Directed by Adrian Greensmith
Movement Direction by Ruth Anna Philips
Produced by Third Needle Theatre Company
Werewold Sighted in Port Talbot plays at Old Red Lion Playhouse until Saturday 28 February.
