Warming up audiences for Halloween, as part of its tour Blackout stops at St George's Hall where Leo Owen caught the show
BILLED as immersive, Blackout graces theatres each time for one night only, promising "every movement, sound and shadow will pull [us] deeper into the dark". However, any fans of immersive masters Punchdrunk Theatre or horror are likely to be left disappointed by missed opportunities and content heavier on mediocre dialogue than jump scares.
A theatre group congregate for a late-night rehearsal in an old theatre revamping a play performed there in the previous century. What initially manifests as an exceedingly camp implausible horror soon turns from staged exorcism to an unsettling reality for the cast.
As Richard, Graham MacDonnell plays the supernatural sceptic while Jade (Rose Broughton) is his polar opposite and Chris (Nick Baker), their mediator. The cast is small and so is the action, instead heavily relying on smoke machines, red strobe lighting and flickering bulbs. A technical fault halts the rehearsal and as the trio wait, the anecdotes begin. In a nod to scary stories told around camp fires, Blackout relies on characters relaying previous supernatural encounters to bulk out the action. Unfortunately, performances and special effects lack, resulting in much of the dialogue falling flat.
Alongside the premise, the set is simple with bare brick walls and an empty stage but for several antique looking chairs utilised in the spooky shenanigans. Panting, creaks, scrapes and melodramatic music accompany the darkness but fail to ramp up the tension and a torch-lit scene reveals frustratingly little. Actors criticising the characters they played in the opening sequence gives some relief for the audience who couldn't help but question the meta play's casting decisions.
Unfortunately, Blackout fails to match all the social media hype and may have been received more positively if marketing hadn't promised immersive theatre. Failing to get the pulse going, Blackout falls flat.
Blackout showed at St George's Hall October 22nd before continuing its tour of the UK and Sweden.
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