Wickies: The Vanishing Men of Eilean Mor - Park Theatre
Dec 2, 2022 23:18:29 GMT
joem, Steve, and 3 more like this
Post by david on Dec 2, 2022 23:18:29 GMT
Wickies - (The Vanishing Men of Eilean Mor) - Park Theatre
From the same producers of the “When Darkness Falls” play comes this supernatural story based on real life events on a Scottish lighthouse from 1900. Told by a trio of actors who play both the lighthouse keepers and the investigators over a 2hr run time (Act 1 approx 55 mins, Act 2 approx 45 mins with a 15 min interval).
As a supernatural story overall I felt it was ok and kept me engaged, but I just felt that as a story it really could have done with having a lot more tension and jump scares. For me, there were about 2 decent scares within the play. Also, there was a lot of explaining rather than showing which didn’t help build up the tension. The ending felt really flat as it was just a lot of explaining rather giving the audience a scare.
The trio of actors did well. Jamie Quinn plays the youngest lighthouse keeper who is new to the job so if full of energy and naivety of what the job entails. Graeme Dalling and Ewan Stewart play the older keepers who have been around the block a few times with the job and are more battle hardened with experience.
Where I felt this production was strongest was in the technical areas. Some nice lighting and sound design really helped set the scenes to create an eerie atmosphere. The lighthouse set from Zoe Hurwitz was also a big plus for me. Played out on two levels, being sat in the centre of row D of the stalls, I really didn’t miss anything that happened up there.
Overall, I got more out of “When Darkness Falls” as a supernatural story than this one. The Woman in Black for me is and continues to be the gold standard on telling a ghost / supernatural story and unfortunately Wickies doesn’t come close to this.
I was sat amongst the creative team tonight so it was nice to discuss with them on how the show is constructed from a technical viewpoint.
As for programmes, nothing on sale except the free cast sheet from the box office.
Rating - 3⭐️
From the same producers of the “When Darkness Falls” play comes this supernatural story based on real life events on a Scottish lighthouse from 1900. Told by a trio of actors who play both the lighthouse keepers and the investigators over a 2hr run time (Act 1 approx 55 mins, Act 2 approx 45 mins with a 15 min interval).
As a supernatural story overall I felt it was ok and kept me engaged, but I just felt that as a story it really could have done with having a lot more tension and jump scares. For me, there were about 2 decent scares within the play. Also, there was a lot of explaining rather than showing which didn’t help build up the tension. The ending felt really flat as it was just a lot of explaining rather giving the audience a scare.
The trio of actors did well. Jamie Quinn plays the youngest lighthouse keeper who is new to the job so if full of energy and naivety of what the job entails. Graeme Dalling and Ewan Stewart play the older keepers who have been around the block a few times with the job and are more battle hardened with experience.
Where I felt this production was strongest was in the technical areas. Some nice lighting and sound design really helped set the scenes to create an eerie atmosphere. The lighthouse set from Zoe Hurwitz was also a big plus for me. Played out on two levels, being sat in the centre of row D of the stalls, I really didn’t miss anything that happened up there.
Overall, I got more out of “When Darkness Falls” as a supernatural story than this one. The Woman in Black for me is and continues to be the gold standard on telling a ghost / supernatural story and unfortunately Wickies doesn’t come close to this.
I was sat amongst the creative team tonight so it was nice to discuss with them on how the show is constructed from a technical viewpoint.
As for programmes, nothing on sale except the free cast sheet from the box office.
Rating - 3⭐️
