DERANGED Live
Deranged is the first stand alone attraction from GNG Entertainments, a new Scare company that already have big plans for the future. After experiencing Deranged, we talked a long time with the creators about their new Halloween show, Hybrid X which is going to be massive (with an equally massive budget to match!).
But Deranged is a more down to earth attraction. Placed inside an amazing community theatre, the whole event has the feel of something more intimate and home grown. Guests wait in the bar for their turn, at which point they are summoned by the gatekeeper, given the warning spiel and then sent into over 10 minutes of confusion!
The attraction can really be split into two different sections. The first was a maze like structure clearly built in the main auditorium of the theatre, which unfortunately at times distracted from the scares. The high ceiling and the obvious presence of the stage couldn’t create an intimate enough setting to suspend belief. Having said that the actors in here really knew how to work the space and we received a number of really good startle scares from the creepily masked figures who were scuttling all over the place.
Once the path ventures backstage though, the fun REALLY begins! This area is much smaller and more confined than the auditorium and as such the actors here were able to do closer and more personal scares. Down in the auditorium, everything was about the startle but here, some devious characterisations and acting came to the fore. As we wandered through different rooms, we experienced all manner of crazy characters including a psychotic ballet dancer, hellish clowns and many other grotesque creatures.
Most characters allowed us to be pass without too much trouble but at one point a crazed female ringmaster forced us to sit down and sing a Beatles’ song with her. It was very bizarre moment and I kept expecting a scare or something to appear but the little vignette just played out to its deranged conclusion (and we later found out that the evil clown was actually playing the piano – although towards the end it's more like “thrashing” the piano!)
A series of rooms all follow with nightmarish vision of dolls and clowns and these were a real highlight of the attraction. With some clever set design and props, each similar shaped room felt different and as we passed from one to the other there was always the fear of what unknown terror world await. There was also some very intense strobe lighting in one of the rooms and the actors here were literally bouncing off the walls!
The backstage theatre area is quite large and the creative team have used every available nook and cranny to hide creatures in. Due to the layout its very possible for actors to appear a number of times making the whole attraction feel far more populated than it really is. And that is one of Deranged’s biggest strengths. There is very rarely a part of the show where there isn’t at least 1 or 2 actors tormenting you. The cast, many of whom had never done scare acting before were very energetic and threw themselves into their roles with abandon. For amateur scarers – they certainly pulled off some very professional techniques.
Walking through the attraction a trained eye may have spotted a few rough edges that highlighted a few budgetary restraints but it would be churlish to mark them down for this and quite frankly we never heard one person running out commenting on the use of bin liners. So maybe we were the only ones to see it!
As their first commercial scare attraction, Deranged is a great showcase for the talents of the boys at GNG, but also shows that layout and shape of a venue are no barriers to putting on a successful event. Certainly the audience members, who experienced these exclusive preview performances, generally left the final room running and heading for the bar. Everyone came out with a smile on their face (well apart from one poor scare attraction virgin that was so shaken that she cried all the way round!) The buzz in the bar afterwards was contagious and just made those waiting to go through even more excited and nervous.
So in conclusion it's a solid thumbs up from me, it made me laugh, it made me jump and it entertained me from beginning to end – what more can you ask for ?
Michael Bolton 11/08/2010
Update: The Yorkshire Star news paper also loved it - review and video here
But Deranged is a more down to earth attraction. Placed inside an amazing community theatre, the whole event has the feel of something more intimate and home grown. Guests wait in the bar for their turn, at which point they are summoned by the gatekeeper, given the warning spiel and then sent into over 10 minutes of confusion!
The attraction can really be split into two different sections. The first was a maze like structure clearly built in the main auditorium of the theatre, which unfortunately at times distracted from the scares. The high ceiling and the obvious presence of the stage couldn’t create an intimate enough setting to suspend belief. Having said that the actors in here really knew how to work the space and we received a number of really good startle scares from the creepily masked figures who were scuttling all over the place.
Once the path ventures backstage though, the fun REALLY begins! This area is much smaller and more confined than the auditorium and as such the actors here were able to do closer and more personal scares. Down in the auditorium, everything was about the startle but here, some devious characterisations and acting came to the fore. As we wandered through different rooms, we experienced all manner of crazy characters including a psychotic ballet dancer, hellish clowns and many other grotesque creatures.
Most characters allowed us to be pass without too much trouble but at one point a crazed female ringmaster forced us to sit down and sing a Beatles’ song with her. It was very bizarre moment and I kept expecting a scare or something to appear but the little vignette just played out to its deranged conclusion (and we later found out that the evil clown was actually playing the piano – although towards the end it's more like “thrashing” the piano!)
A series of rooms all follow with nightmarish vision of dolls and clowns and these were a real highlight of the attraction. With some clever set design and props, each similar shaped room felt different and as we passed from one to the other there was always the fear of what unknown terror world await. There was also some very intense strobe lighting in one of the rooms and the actors here were literally bouncing off the walls!
The backstage theatre area is quite large and the creative team have used every available nook and cranny to hide creatures in. Due to the layout its very possible for actors to appear a number of times making the whole attraction feel far more populated than it really is. And that is one of Deranged’s biggest strengths. There is very rarely a part of the show where there isn’t at least 1 or 2 actors tormenting you. The cast, many of whom had never done scare acting before were very energetic and threw themselves into their roles with abandon. For amateur scarers – they certainly pulled off some very professional techniques.
Walking through the attraction a trained eye may have spotted a few rough edges that highlighted a few budgetary restraints but it would be churlish to mark them down for this and quite frankly we never heard one person running out commenting on the use of bin liners. So maybe we were the only ones to see it!
As their first commercial scare attraction, Deranged is a great showcase for the talents of the boys at GNG, but also shows that layout and shape of a venue are no barriers to putting on a successful event. Certainly the audience members, who experienced these exclusive preview performances, generally left the final room running and heading for the bar. Everyone came out with a smile on their face (well apart from one poor scare attraction virgin that was so shaken that she cried all the way round!) The buzz in the bar afterwards was contagious and just made those waiting to go through even more excited and nervous.
So in conclusion it's a solid thumbs up from me, it made me laugh, it made me jump and it entertained me from beginning to end – what more can you ask for ?
Michael Bolton 11/08/2010
Update: The Yorkshire Star news paper also loved it - review and video here
Deranged runs until Saturday August 14th at the Dearne Playhouse in Goldthorpe, South Yorkshire. Visit their website for details