Fright night

Anne McElvoy

● THE HORROR-MEETS-MYSTERY genre is a lucrative staple of the streaming services and film, while proving much harder for the theatre to nail. Special effects and CGI that wow on the small screen can look clunky on the big stage. Even the hardiest Lloyd-Webber perennial, The Phantom of the Opera, deploys resilient nineteenth-century tropes of flickering candlelight and masks to create its ghostly atmosphere. The Woman in Black, embarking on another national tour this spring, has had a similar durability as, in its own estimation, “the most terrifying theatrical experience in the world”. Newer audiences may feel that being expected to be blown away by these is a bit like being expected to be excited by their parents’ classic rock albums — they are impressive but dated, and a technological…

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The Critic (Digital) - 1 Issue, February 2024

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