London Lovecraft Festival
The London Lovecraft Festival is an annual celebration of HP Lovecraft, with a selection of plays, readings and performances based on the author's twisted tales of the occult and supernatural. We were recently invited along for the opening night to see two very different shows:
Weird and Unnatural Tales
The opening show of the event was a simple experience - a selection of four tales from Aleister Crowley and HP Lovecraft, read by master storyteller Jason Buck.
Although we say "read", Jason was definitely more of a performer in his storytelling, creating multiple voices, and special effects throughout each one, leaving the audience hanging on his every word.
The stories themselves started quite sedately, but soon escalated to the classic Rats in the Walls - an orgy of under world horror and paranoia.
At the end of each story, Jason quite deservedly received a rapturous reception from the audience. Which couldn't have been more of a contrast to the next show...
Re-Animator - The Bloody Musical
Being big fans of the 80's horror comedy we were really looking forward to this experience, expecting lots of blood and gore and mess. Unfortunately what we got was not the kind of bloody mess we were hoping for!
For a show that has supposedly opened before in Scotland, we found the whole experience to be woefully under-rehearsed. The show had a charming edge, and the main actor played by Joseph Helsing was eminently likable, but his insistence on ad-libbing his way through the material meant that the show ran out of time. Scheduled to run for an hour, several songs had to be cut to end the whole thing by the 10.30 curfew!
We don't even think any of this was deliberate. Unlike the Mischief Theatre Company that make The Play that Goes Wrong work so well - this just felt like a car crash at times and although we laughed a lot through the show - this was often for the wrong reason!
The idea of a musical based on this story could have been fun - and the songs are pleasant enough, but this show really needs a boost of its own medicine before it is re-animated again.
Weird and Unnatural Tales
The opening show of the event was a simple experience - a selection of four tales from Aleister Crowley and HP Lovecraft, read by master storyteller Jason Buck.
Although we say "read", Jason was definitely more of a performer in his storytelling, creating multiple voices, and special effects throughout each one, leaving the audience hanging on his every word.
The stories themselves started quite sedately, but soon escalated to the classic Rats in the Walls - an orgy of under world horror and paranoia.
At the end of each story, Jason quite deservedly received a rapturous reception from the audience. Which couldn't have been more of a contrast to the next show...
Re-Animator - The Bloody Musical
Being big fans of the 80's horror comedy we were really looking forward to this experience, expecting lots of blood and gore and mess. Unfortunately what we got was not the kind of bloody mess we were hoping for!
For a show that has supposedly opened before in Scotland, we found the whole experience to be woefully under-rehearsed. The show had a charming edge, and the main actor played by Joseph Helsing was eminently likable, but his insistence on ad-libbing his way through the material meant that the show ran out of time. Scheduled to run for an hour, several songs had to be cut to end the whole thing by the 10.30 curfew!
We don't even think any of this was deliberate. Unlike the Mischief Theatre Company that make The Play that Goes Wrong work so well - this just felt like a car crash at times and although we laughed a lot through the show - this was often for the wrong reason!
The idea of a musical based on this story could have been fun - and the songs are pleasant enough, but this show really needs a boost of its own medicine before it is re-animated again.
Links:
You Review
Have you also visited this or any other attractions recently? - tell us what you thought here
|
All the latest news, stories, review and gossip can be found on the ScareTOUR social media pages - the hottest presence in the UK for Scare Attractions!
|
|
|
|
|