Purgatory by Jade Kelly-Haydon
Purgatory was a one off installation by Jade Kelly- Haydon as part of her final dissertation in scare acting and performance at the renowned Rose Bruford College of Theatre and Performance. Jade has had experience working at such iconic scare attractions as the London Bridge Experience, Thorpe Park, and some of the wonderfully weird Tom Spindler shows, but it is when she is let loose to create her own shows that her talent really shines through. We were part of a small group of outsiders who were allowed into the college to see the show for ourselves, and so along with some very nervous drama students, we lined up outside and waited our turn to enter.
The show is themed around a visit to Rose Valley Prison, a high security containment facility with questionable moral values and some twisted guards. Within seconds of entering we were being accused of all sorts of crimes, lined up against the wall like criminals, and very soon separated and forced (almost physically) to proceed on our own. The rest of the show played out like an elaborate prison escape with us crawling through escape tunnels, passing through hitherto unseen prison rooms and finally escaping to the outside to be hunted down by eager prison guards.
What stood out about the show is how immersive and realistic it all felt once we had stepped inside. The indoor sections were solidly built with realistic looking rooms and props and the "outside" section used effects such as wind and lighting to give the impression that we really were outside.
Throughout the show was an impressive soundtrack, that while deafening and crazy was subtly layered and timed such that helicopter sounds and police sirens tied in with physical effects that made the whole experience overpowering and a full assault on the senses.
The attraction also used some great and unique distraction effects to lead us not to suspect what was coming next. Effects such as the hidden crawl holes and the timing of the watch tower lights - all helped to confuse and disorientate us making it even easier for the actors to get closer and scare us.Talking of the actors, no production at Rose Bruford could be reviewed without mentioning the brilliantly talented cast throughout. From the faeces covered man in just his underpants through to the surly prison guards, everyone was believable and added to the overall story.
So with great sets and effects and some crazy actors, the final praise must go to Jade for pulling this whole thing together for just one day. The technical expertise and production work that went into the whole show were more impressive than most professional scare attractions we have visited. It is clear that Jade and the team around her, know what scares people and have the ability to pull something off both shocking yet totally believable. So if this is what she does for a "school project", we cant wait to see what twisted genius she unleashes upon us when she has some proper funding in the future. Watch this space...
The show is themed around a visit to Rose Valley Prison, a high security containment facility with questionable moral values and some twisted guards. Within seconds of entering we were being accused of all sorts of crimes, lined up against the wall like criminals, and very soon separated and forced (almost physically) to proceed on our own. The rest of the show played out like an elaborate prison escape with us crawling through escape tunnels, passing through hitherto unseen prison rooms and finally escaping to the outside to be hunted down by eager prison guards.
What stood out about the show is how immersive and realistic it all felt once we had stepped inside. The indoor sections were solidly built with realistic looking rooms and props and the "outside" section used effects such as wind and lighting to give the impression that we really were outside.
Throughout the show was an impressive soundtrack, that while deafening and crazy was subtly layered and timed such that helicopter sounds and police sirens tied in with physical effects that made the whole experience overpowering and a full assault on the senses.
The attraction also used some great and unique distraction effects to lead us not to suspect what was coming next. Effects such as the hidden crawl holes and the timing of the watch tower lights - all helped to confuse and disorientate us making it even easier for the actors to get closer and scare us.Talking of the actors, no production at Rose Bruford could be reviewed without mentioning the brilliantly talented cast throughout. From the faeces covered man in just his underpants through to the surly prison guards, everyone was believable and added to the overall story.
So with great sets and effects and some crazy actors, the final praise must go to Jade for pulling this whole thing together for just one day. The technical expertise and production work that went into the whole show were more impressive than most professional scare attractions we have visited. It is clear that Jade and the team around her, know what scares people and have the ability to pull something off both shocking yet totally believable. So if this is what she does for a "school project", we cant wait to see what twisted genius she unleashes upon us when she has some proper funding in the future. Watch this space...
Read our review of Beaverwood Live, one of Jade's earlier mazes here
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