HULL NEW THEATRE, HULL – UNTIL SATURDAY 30TH MARCH.
REVIEWED BY DAWN BENNETT
5*****
Moving into a new house should be a happy time but Peter James’ The House on Cold Hill (adapted for stage by Shaun Mckenna} proves it can be as far away from happy as possible!
Set in in the modern day, in an 800-year-old country house, we meet the family Ollie Harcourt (Joe McFadden), his wife Caro (played brilliantly by understudy Hannah Lindsey) and teenage daughter Jade (Persephone Swales-Dawson).
They move into the house (which has been strangely standing empty for 40 years) and start renovating with the help of builder Phil (Leon Stewart) and this is when the fun starts, the electrics go awry, pipes groan, doors bang shut or slowly open and all this can seem to be explained logically…or can it?
Chris (Charlie Clements), is the IT “geek” from the village who is brought in by Ollie to help with his web design business and sort out the Wi-Fi. His transformation from mild mannered IT man to ghost hunter is brilliantly written and acted.
The history of the house starts to unravel and we learn about the previous residents with some scary scenes that were made the people around me jumpy! The tension gets broken by the slightly dotty cleaner Annie (Tricia Deighton) who’s lines, and talent for mediumship make you laugh one minute and gasp with shock the next.
Fortinbras the Vicar (Padraig Lynch) offers some more history of the house, some more of what had happened to its residents and a blessing with some very interesting results!
Along with O’Hare (Simon Balcon) we are treated to excellent acting from all the cast, the characters are very believable, particularly Joes character Ollie who is the gel that holds the family together.
Everything from the set to set to the special effects was very well done.
A dark atmospheric production full of tension and humour and if you like Peter James’ books, and ghost stories in general, I would highly recommend you go and see it.
If you want to know the ending…well that would be telling!!