Helen Maybanks
The House on Cold Hill
Helen Maybanks
In this adaptation from Peter James' novel at the New Victoria Theatre, Woking Simon Collins finds The House On Cold Hill is an enjoyable romp through comedy and horror...
OUR VERDICT
(Richmond Theatre)
Peter James’ entertaining play begins as a merry family comedy with a professional couple who are approaching their 40s moving into an old, remote house a few miles north of Brighton. Ollie Harcourt is a web designer, Caro, his wife, a solicitor. Their daughter, Jade, is about to register at college. The intention is to renovate the place (built two centuries ago from the remains of a monastery) and settle for good in what TV property shows call “a forever home.” If only life were that simple in Sussex.
Since the yarn will end in horror things soon start to go wrong. Phoebe, Jade’s friend, talking to her via Facetime on their mobile phones, notices a mysterious figure lurking in the background of her screen. Caro’s ironing board inexplicably collapses and a spark jumps from the iron burning her cheek. There are various poltergeist effects. Most sinister, whatever is haunting the house apparently takes possession of their Amazon Alexa device.
Supposedly “the grey lady” always menaces any occupants of the house but when asked about this Alexa tells them that “The Grey Lady is a live music venue in Tunbridge Wells.” This is a running gag. The audience roars but the humour palls once Alexa begins to make ominous predictions. Later Ollie’s web pages will go terribly awry. Much worse is still to come. Yet the paradox of the ineffability of technology is not pursued; it is not that sort of play. On this stage, gadgetry only emphasises the normality of a modern family.
Surrounding the immediate family is a motley crew of curious locals. The builder tells of his father’s supernatural experiences in the house; Annie, employed as the cleaner, is an ageing hippie who serves also as a medium; funniest of all is Fortinbras, the local vicar, who initially arrives bearing raffle tickets. The Reverend, delightfully played by Padraig Lynch, is ridiculously comic throughout. I noticed in the star-studded audience last night that the Reverend Richard Coles (the model for Tom Hollander’s role in the sitcom Rev), sitting next to the divine Debbie McGee, was not apparently amused but observed his fictional counterpart inscrutably.
The four actors playing the principals bring a wealth of experience in soaps to the effortless back and forth family bantering. Joe McFadden, playing a lovable Scotsman, expresses the endless charm honed in Holby City, Casualty and Heartbeat, not to mention seven years in Take The High Road, and the nation’s goodwill at having won Strictly Come Dancing. He even jigs a turn in this show.
Similarly, Rita Simons is recognisable not just from Celebrity Jungle but in every pub in Britain as Roxy Mitchell who helped her aunt run the Queen Vic in Eastenders and whose plucky character endured for years a myriad of jagged plotlines. Chris, the tech geek with a dark side recruited to assist Ollie, is played by another Eastenders regular, Charlie Clements. He alone has devised his part to leave himself unrecognised. The actress playing Jade, Persephone Swales-Dawson, famous from Hollyoaks is a former winner of the Inside Soap Award for Best Bad Girl. They are all wonderfully vibrant but like Hollywood stars, however capable as actors, their sheer celebrity presence overwhelms the roles they play. Whether and why this matters bears consideration.
Another overwhelming element of entertainment in this production is the forceful sound design by Martin Hodgson who has composed the sort of soundscape more usually encountered in blockbuster movies, in melodramatic fashion underscoring the excitement, the calms and shocks of the story, amplifying the audience’s involuntary visceral responses as the tension alternately tightens and eases.
There is, of course, an explanation finally given for the haunting of those who occupy the house. Even so, the malevolence of the Grey Lady has a psychopathic character. She suffered an abominable fate but whatever was done to her when alive cannot justify the despicable wickedness she now inflicts.
Venue: Richmond Theatre
Dates: Until April 13, 2019
Google
Yahoo
Outlook
ical
