The Book of Horror: Volume 1, A Haunting on Hope Street – Hope Street Theatre

A scare fest which gets your pulse racing and heart pumping. 4AM Productions present this diverse scary selection of tales of the most terrible, with a rich blend of horror classics and new writing.

We’re trick or treated into watching an assortment of stand-alone ghost stories, which feature some terrific twists and turns. All performed by a strong ensemble of 12, with most doubling up as actors, writers and directors.

Our compare for the evening, The Curator (portrayed with gusto by Phil Halfpenny), our gothic garbed host, presents a selection of less than savoury tales to get us in the mood for the spooky season. The Curator and his ever-dependent servant, the creepy Minion (well played by Luke Bennet) deliver some laugh out loud moments and funny audience interactions which really draws us in for the evening.  Despite several warnings that our souls were under some serious threat, we watched on in horror.   

The Raven, based on the poem by Edgar Allan Poe, opens with a crackling fire as we watch a lone man’s (Benjamin Yates) descent into madness as a demon eyed Raven drives his grief to one of despair. This Gothic styled horror, adapted and directed by Bennet, presented a range of emotionally charged moments counteracted with moments of stillness, albeit with some slight projection issues at the beginning due to the loud crackling fire sound effect.  It would have been lovely to watch Yates deliver this piece face on (with the audience as the Raven), so we could fully appreciate his full range of emotions as he loses his mind in frustration at the relentless bird.

The Charles Dickens mystery The Signal-Man, takes us on a decent into death with this strange tale adapted and directed by Phil Halfpenny. Brilliantly performed by Adam Titchmarsh as the Signal-Man, and Thomas Connolly as the Narrator. We’re kept on the edge of our seats right until the end and left to decide on our own interpretation as to its strange conclusion.  The projection of the train track worked a treat, and the effective use of the performance space was utilised to its potential. The brilliant off-stage scream was startling and piercing!     

How to Process Your Imminent Death, an original piece of horror writing from Luke Bennet is not for the faint hearted, especially if you’re not a fan of serial killer clowns.  The action takes place in a cellar where you can imagine a John Wayne Gacy type wandering up and down in the house above. A duologue, strongly performed by Lucy Wareing and Thomas Connolly, provides some dark comedy moments brought out by the excellent rapport between the two. However, some slowing down of pace for Connolly would have really let his natural comic timing really shine through.

The Attic written by Robert Scott is a ghost story which flickers between the present and the past with a brilliant twist and effective jump scares. Adapted and directed by Sab Muthusamy the action nicely flows between the split stage, and the two time periods. Under Muthusamy’s direction, all the actors in this piece gave great performances complimenting their natural stage presence; Rosabelle Bennett, Melissa Boyle, Yates, Wareing, and Muthusamy, whose versatility throughout all the plays was appreciated and noted, was a sheer a pleasure to watch. A truly engaging piece.

Kali’s Gold an original piece of work written and directed by 4AM founder Muthusamy and co-directed with Nafeesah Younis (who also did the brilliant special effects make up for this piece). Set in India during the British rule, we meet two British soldiers who despite several warnings let greed take over and plan on stealing some forbidden treasure. However, the Hindu Goddess of darkness, destruction and death, Kali, is having none of it! This is a visually striking piece where, from the start, our wits are against us when a possessed mysterious woman (Nafeesah Younis) enters the stage staring straight into our souls. Yates plays the role of one of the monstrous soldiers so well, it makes you want to give him a slap. With some possessed voodoo action from Kali’s devotees (Pranavi Challapalli and Bhavna Mehta) the story is complimented nicely with the inclusion of music and movement.

The costumes, hair, make up, and props used for each play is exemplary. The attention to detail compliments the different genre’s, various locations and time periods, from the gothic dress to the stunning apparition of Goddess Kali. A real treat. The actors doubling up in roles successfully defined differences in their characterisations. 

There were some missed opportunities to subject the audience to more underlying terror, for example, stretching the audience’s senses by projecting sound effects/actors’ voices from various places in the auditorium. This did happen during some moments and was very effective and unnerving but could have been used to great effect in other moments.  Some entrances and exits during transitions lost some of the chilling atmosphere, with actors moving before lights down/lights up, which temporarily lost some of the eeriness and unearthly goings on.  

Overall, an entertaining evening of ghost stories with great potential for an annual spooky night out!

Reviewer: Gill Lewis

Reviewed: 19^th October 2023

North West End UK Rating: