Wilton’s Music Hall, London – until 31st December 2021
Reviewed by Bobbi Fenton
5*****
‘The Child in the Snow’, created by Piers Torday and adapted from ‘The Old Nurse’s Tale’ by Elizabeth Gaskell is a wonderfully eerie play, which tells the story of a Nurse in 1918 who has recently returned from the war front. Nurse Hester Thornton (Safiyya Ingar) invites clairvoyant Psychic Estelle Leonard (Debbie Chazen) to perform a séance in the house she had been sent to live in at the age of twelve. During her time living there, she uncovered a dark secret about the house, and her aunt. She has since forgotten what the secret was, but knows that it was the scariest thing she has ever experienced, even after serving as a nurse in France during the war. Mrs Leonard uses her psychic ability to conjure multiple spirits, and through doing so, helps Hester Thornton to remember what she had experienced while living in the house.
Throughout the play, Debbie Chazen switches perfectly between the different character’s whose spirits communicate through Mrs Leonard, and Safiyya Ingar does an amazing job of portraying Hester at different moments during her life, such as when she was a nurse in France and when she was living in the house as a child.
The set was beautifully designed, with the stage made to look like a room in an abandoned house for the majority of the show, with different pieces of furniture and other things under white sheets. During a few scenes, however, the back wall opens up to reveal the outside, covered in snow. They even made use of the balcony of the music hall itself, with tree branches leant slightly over the top.
Filled with perfectly timed jump scares, and bone chilling moments, this play is a definite must see for any lovers of ghost stories and supernatural horror. Get down to Wilton’s music hall while you still can, just remember not to let him in, no matter how much he cries.