By Robert Bain
If the idea of two hours of terror is making you jittery already, then don’t worry. Firstly, the Union Theatre lets you bring your drinks in, to calm those nerves, and secondly, Terror 2006 really isn’t that terrifying. It’s certainly entertaining though. The creators have captured that gaudy and slightly grotesque feel of old-fashioned fairgrounds and circuses, right down to the jaunty but sinister music, and creepy, unhinged characters.
This annual horror festival is now in its third year. The night consists of three short plays, two of them based on tales by renowned Victorian ghost story writer MR James. But the highlight turns out to be an interlude between the plays, in which two gypsy showmen do a quick double act involving mutilation.
It’s simple, it’s crude, but it’s really funny and it’s really horrible. The reason it works is that, like good street performers, the pair take the time to build up to what they do, so that when it happens, it seems ten times more impressive than it should.
By comparison, the three plays, each of which have much more time to present their stories and build up the dread, are much less effective.
The Disappearance is the first of the two MR James adaptations. It has all the classic ghost story ingredients: a lonely old house in the middle of nowhere, a stormy night, odd locals with dark looks behind their eyes, and of course, the naïve young man from the city who stumbles into their midst. It’s made all the more spooky by the shadowy set, eerie sound effects and impressive acting.
Telling the story of gruesome Punch and Judy shows that come to life, The Disappearance treads the line between the absurdly amusing and the freakishly frightening. Unfortunately, it’s just a little too far on the daft side to be truly scary. There’s a memorable nightmare sequence with lavishly made costumes – but it would have been more frightening to have been shown less, and to have imagined more.
In a ghost story, the ending is really what it’s all about, and the rushed finale of this one is a let down after the promising build up.
The more light-hearted The Rose Garden feels like a PG Wodehouse comedy, only with something nasty in the woodshed. The cast deliver the rich comic dialogue with aplomb, but the fear doesn’t get a chance to mount. Charlotte Asprey, as Mary, does her best to curdle the blood with a high-pitched scream – but it’s still not quite enough. Once again the ending is rushed and confusing.
Both these plays are fun and extremely likeable, but neither quite takes the time or the care to build up the necessary tension for a real jump-out-of-your-seat finish.
In the last play, Normal, the horror is no longer supernatural but psychological. It tells the story of Peter Kürten, ‘The Vampire of Düsseldorf’, who is on death row following a brutal killing spree in 1920s Germany. Kürten’s lawyer intends to get him acquitted by proving he is mad – but Kürten insists he is sane.
The first two plays look like pantomimes compared to this much nastier, more sordid piece. It’s a tale of brutality, depravity and sexual obsession, which examines how the “monsters” among us relate to the innocent children we all once were.
While Normal benefits from taking more time to tell its story, the ending is another let down. It finishes with a brutal (but not very convincing) killing that is dragged out way too long. Call me a spoilsport, but I’d say there’s a limit to the number of times you can watch someone pretend to be bludgeoned before it just gets annoying.
Terror 2006 continues at the Union Theatre Southwark until November 25. There are Halloween Specials on October 30 and October 31. More photos and production details here.
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