This is the third instalment in our series on Even More… Ghost Stories by Candlelight, our co-production with HighTide. The first, on the start of rehearsals is available here. The second, on the start of the tour and the reflections of writers Anne Odeke and Rosa Torr, is available here.
Sarita Gabony in Even More… Ghost Stories by Candlelight. Set and costume design Lu Herbert, lighting design Jonathan Chan. Photo: Ali Wright.
We’re in the final leg of the tour, with performances tonight and tomorrow at the Battersea Arts Centre. We’ve toured sixteen venues, starting in Bury St Edmund’s in the East, ending in London, and along the way taking in Ipswich, Southend, Great Yarmouth, as well as a sell-out week at Bristol Old Vic, and dates at the Midlands Arts Centre, Ludlow Assembly Rooms, and a Halloween spent at Shakespeare North.
There have been a lot of screams. A little audience interaction. And I shudder to think how much stage blood has been shed.
What have the critics said?
With a few more to come in, this what the press have had to say so far…
Overall:
Everything Theatre called the show “unmissable”, describing its “four chilling, new short stories,” as featuring “mesmerising performances”, leading to “audible gasps fromt the crowd”, and, overall “a brave, clever, and beautifully executed experience”, and “a real triumph”, giving it the full five stars.
The Reviews Hub described the show as “brilliantly compelling” in its 4.5 star review, where “four individually written ghost stories, one mysterious white horse motif that appears in each of them, and two excellent actors make this fantastically frightening show one to remember.”
London Theatre Reviews praised the show as “a haunting celebration of storytelling’s timeless power", that “genuinely unsettles”, and appreciated that “both performers deliver outstanding work”, and that they “know exactly how to draw you into each world they create,” in a four star review, and First Night Magazine concurred, describing the show as “frightfully beautiful”, “delightfully overpowering”, “compelling”, and summarised the play having “absorbing plots, enthralling staging, and superb acting,” giving it four stars.
The stars continuined to mount up, with A Youngish Perspective said the show as “must see” and “absolutely terrifying” in its 4 star review, and LondonTheatre1 joining the praise, describing it as “intimate and personal” and “compelling” in its 4 star review. Breaking The Fourth Wall agreed, describing it as “original” and “engaging” in its 4 star review, and as “a natural heir to The Woman in Black.”
Likewise, Bristol 24/7 summarised it as a “superb theatrical production with spellbinding direction,” BackStage Bristol praised it as “gripping, edge of the seat stuff”, that the show “will leave all audiences thoroughly entertained.”
The individual pieces:
The first piece, Florence Espeut-Nickless’s The White Horse, features Troy, speaking to the audience about his challenging experiences in a Pupil Referral Unit. Bristol24/7 comments that its, “highly compelling” writing, and praises all departments: “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.”
Backstage Bristol commented that Flo “has such a talent for creating relatable, usually working-class characters, with her smart writing and astute character and cultural observations.”
Breaking the Fourth Wall notes it also features, “an engaging performance from Guimarães-Tolley.”
Keaton Guimarães-Tolley in Even More… Ghost Stories by Candlelight. Set and costume design Lu Herbert, lighting design Jonathan Chan. Photo: Ali Wright.
The second piece, Simon Longman’s Cold Oak Lane, follows a mycologist PhD student escaping from the reality of their dad’s approaching death, only to be met with something strange and sinister. As Breaking The Fourth Wall says, it “builds upon the notion that the psychological traumas of the protagonist reflect and inform the supernatural phenomena encountered in the narrative.”
Backstage Bristol says the writing went about “ramping up the tension” with “a conclusion that had the audience wincing.” The Reviews Hub praises Gabony’s “immaculate pacing within her storytelling in both Cold Oak Lane and Consequences of Diving Lots”, also praising “Short’s unnerving sound design contributing to the uncomfortable conclusion.”
The third piece, Anne Odeke’s The Takeover, brings Rollo, an Urban Explorer from Essex played by Guimarães-Tolley back to the stage as a “cringey YouTuber”, which is “excellently done, the humour adding a layer of personability to each of them, which makes the slow transition into horror even more devastating”, says The Reviews Hub.
It went on to say that “his swift character shifts in The Takeover, in particular, are sharp and polished; the fast pacing of the narrative alongside the intensity of the tale is brilliantly compelling.”
Backstage Bristol also praised the “lighting design by Jonathan Chan [which] brought a rumbling sense of movie action to the timeslip terror.” LondonTheatre1 comments that the piece, “had much to say about the pursuit of subscribers by would-be influencers and internet personalities”, and so was deeply timely.
Rosa Torr’s The Consequence of Diving Lots was the final piece, and as Breaking The Fourth Wall says, Sarita Gabony plays a young woman “working nights at a remote storage facility”.
The Reviews Hub praised Gabony and the writing, “her character is frantic and excitable, which works well with Herbert’s constant opening door as a new lot is displayed. Her impeccable sleight of hand as she quickly produces items out of nowhere works in conjunction with her character’s fast unravelling, towards the quick, shocking culmination.”
Sarita Gabony in Even More… Ghost Stories by Candlelight. Set and costume design Lu Herbert, lighting design Jonathan Chan. Photo: Ali Wright.
Other departments:
There was general praise for the performers, with A Youngish Perspective writing that, “both actors gave a convincing performance throughout”, and that “Keaton Guimarães-Tolley gave a specific and hilarious showing of multiple characters” and “Sarita Gabony was brilliantly quick”.
There was widespread praise for the design, with The Reviews Hub writing “Lu Herbert’s set design, Anna Short’s sound design and Jonathan Chan’s lighting design work harmoniously to extract as much tension and fear as possible and are integral to the impact,” Backstage Bristol praising the “brilliant sound design by Anna Short, suitably menacing”, Breaking The Fourth Wall acknowledging that, “the lighting and sound design plays a big part in the play’s atmosphere”
Reflecting on the show as a whole, The Reviews Hub wrote, “One of the show’s greatest strengths is the variety of its intricately crafted stories,”, that the concept was “simple yet wonderfully executed,” and there was praise for dramaturgs Clare Slater and Titilola Dawudu as A Youngish Perspective commented that the “the dramaturgical choices were well executed.”
Finally, director Elle While was praised for her “spellbinding direction” by Bristol 24/7.
Keaton Guimarães-Tolley in Even More… Ghost Stories by Candlelight. Set and costume design Lu Herbert, lighting design Jonathan Chan. Photo: Ali Wright.
In a phrase?
The Reviews Hub: “Brilliantly compelling... a creepy, captivating, candlelit collection.”
A Youngish Perspective: “A must see.”
London Theatre 1: “Intimate... compelling... unsettling.”
Backstage Bristol: “A delightful dip into a supernatural horror.”
Bristol 24/7: “Pure visceral theatre.”
Breaking the Fourth Wall: “A natural heir to The Woman in Black.”
LincsOnline: “Perfect.”
Final Reflections From the Writers
Previously, Rosa Torr and Anne Odeke reflected on the journey from page to stage. So now we’re at the end, it’s the turn of Simon Longman and Florence Espeut-Nickless, both former Pentabus Writers-in-Residence, to reflect back on the start in some of their interviews.
Florence Espeut-Nickless told A Youngish Perspective:
“A challenge I gave myself was how can I write a ghost story that is also a celebration of young people and of current youth culture. Or the youth culture that I know and am surrounded by, at least. It’s a bit of a love note to all the teenagers I’ve been blessed to know and work with over the years. I’m constantly blown away by their resilience and wit, so I wanted that to be in there.
Weirdly writing a very contemporary ghost story felt sort of radical and I dunno “fresh”. I think that’s probably because I read a lot of Victorian ghost stories at the start of the process, but of course when they were written they were contemporary too. So, I guess I’m not reinventing the wheel as much as I’d like to think.”
Simon Longman told One Show At A Time:
“I’ve never written anything with a specific ghost story brief as this. I guess in everything we write as playwrights we’re using the past moments of our characters to echo into the play. These moments cause characters to behave, in some way, in the way they do. So I suppose every character is haunted by past actions that will, if used to tell the story, occur in the present of the play. Everyone is made that way, right? We’re all a product of things that have happened to us. The choices others have made that have affected us; the choices we’ve made that have done the same to ourselves and others. So it’s all massively connected.”
Florence reflected on the brief:
“The brief from Hightide and Pentabus was to write a contemporary ghost story set in our home region. I’m passionate about flying the Wiltshire flag on stage, so this was a gift for me as a writer. The county is steeped in folklore and mythology, which crosses over into ghost stories, so there was lots of rich history and material to draw upon and to be inspired by. The marriage (if you like) of the urban and rural that I experienced growing up in Chippenham, felt quite fizzy and exciting in the ghost story context, so I leant into that definitely.
In terms of class, I think my writing will always spotlight and champion working class characters and communities, whatever genre I’m writing in. That’s the goal anyway. People from all backgrounds and walks of life experience the supernatural and believe in ghosts, so I took a character I know and love and placed him in a chilling environment… I don’t wanna give any spoilers, so I’ll stop there.”
We’ll leave you with how Simon’s process started:
“The first image I had was someone standing in a field, looking back towards an autumn sunset and seeing something looking back at them in the distance. Growing up in the middle of nowhere this was one of the things that creeped me out. That sense of distance. That sense that maybe seeing something far away, but looking back at me, would be incredibly unsettling. It wasn’t closeness that scared me. But distance.”
The final performances of Even More… Ghost Stories by Candlelight are at the Battersea Arts Centre, tonight and tomorrow (3pm and 7.30pm).
Tickets: https://bac.org.uk/whats-on/ghost-stories-by-candlelight/
Want more?
Writers Simon Longman and Florence Espeut-Nickless.
Writers Simon Longman, Rosa Torr, and Anne Odeke.
Rosa Torr in Voice Mag, and Theatre Weekly.
Even more?
And here are the reviews so far in full:
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