Post by Steve on Aug 27, 2024 17:44:20 GMT
Saw this Saturday night, and loved the horror of it, though I felt the jigsaw-puzzle-like nature of the story diminishes the visceral impact.
A mixed bag then, probably marmite.
Some spoilers follow. . .
The big bad in this, Baitface, apparently counts Daniel Kaluuya among his victims, according to the three teens at the heart of this story, although I could swear he was in Blue/Orange at the Young Vic not so long ago lol.
Anyway, the lore of this horror story, stated in the first 10 minutes of a 75 minute uninterrupted running time, has Baitface as a kid who was chased by the police for an off-licence robbery he didn't commit, resulting in him run over and killed by a car. His trainers, which haven't got dirty for 20 years, have been hung up as a memorial, and the fear is that the ghost of Baitface is hunting the real perpetrator of the robbery and will kill anyone who touches those trainers.
The feel is very much classic horror like "Candyman," with a bunch of kids goading each other into taking stupid risks, crossed with a modern horror show about the consequences of racism, such as the filmic work of Daniel Kaluuya, who is referenced for a reason lol.
Unfortunately, the play focuses on smarts at the expense of scares, like the classic horror movie "Jacob's Ladder," which is loathed and lauded in equal measure.
The non-linear structure constantly intercuts scenes from "The Night in Question" (projected helpfully on the stage floor) and "CCTV of the Night in Question," which latter scenes require the actors to glitch like bad CCTV.
Anyhow, like a character from a Philip Ridley nightmare, Baitface is played by a masked actor moving weirdly and frighteningly in unexpected areas of the stage. This is effectively scary, and the sound designer and Dani Harris-Walters, as a lithe Baitface, creeped the heck out of me lol.
Kadiesha Belgrave, who was very funny in "Grud" at Hampstead, is very effective as the anchor character, loaded with lore, staking out Baitface's grave with two of her friends.
We constantly get intimations from audio news reports that suggest either that the three kids may be dead or that the three kids may have done something terrible (possibly under the influence of Baitface).
There is some street slang I might not have understood had I not seen them used in telly dramas, so perhaps it's useful to point out that "G" stands for "gangster," but is a term of endearment referring to members of your group, just as Michael Jackson once taught us that "Bad" can mean "Good" lol. Further, "bare" typically means "alot of," as in "there are bare reviews on theatre board." And a "Bally" (they briefly define this one for us in a rap) is a balaclava, which may be useful to prevent yourself being falsely accused of a crime, or alternatively, may disguise your identity if you in fact commit a crime.
Anyway, the lore rocks, and I imagine it will find its way into a film at some point. At that point, I imagine the complexity of the storytelling will be reduced so as to create a greater sense of dynamism rather than a sense of being static and puzzling.
That said, the solution to the puzzle is satisfying, and the entire ensemble are compelling and dynamic where the storytelling sometimes fails to be.
Overall, 3 and a half stars from me for bringing the live creeping horror of the movies to the Upstairs space!
A mixed bag then, probably marmite.
Some spoilers follow. . .
The big bad in this, Baitface, apparently counts Daniel Kaluuya among his victims, according to the three teens at the heart of this story, although I could swear he was in Blue/Orange at the Young Vic not so long ago lol.
Anyway, the lore of this horror story, stated in the first 10 minutes of a 75 minute uninterrupted running time, has Baitface as a kid who was chased by the police for an off-licence robbery he didn't commit, resulting in him run over and killed by a car. His trainers, which haven't got dirty for 20 years, have been hung up as a memorial, and the fear is that the ghost of Baitface is hunting the real perpetrator of the robbery and will kill anyone who touches those trainers.
The feel is very much classic horror like "Candyman," with a bunch of kids goading each other into taking stupid risks, crossed with a modern horror show about the consequences of racism, such as the filmic work of Daniel Kaluuya, who is referenced for a reason lol.
Unfortunately, the play focuses on smarts at the expense of scares, like the classic horror movie "Jacob's Ladder," which is loathed and lauded in equal measure.
The non-linear structure constantly intercuts scenes from "The Night in Question" (projected helpfully on the stage floor) and "CCTV of the Night in Question," which latter scenes require the actors to glitch like bad CCTV.
Anyhow, like a character from a Philip Ridley nightmare, Baitface is played by a masked actor moving weirdly and frighteningly in unexpected areas of the stage. This is effectively scary, and the sound designer and Dani Harris-Walters, as a lithe Baitface, creeped the heck out of me lol.
Kadiesha Belgrave, who was very funny in "Grud" at Hampstead, is very effective as the anchor character, loaded with lore, staking out Baitface's grave with two of her friends.
We constantly get intimations from audio news reports that suggest either that the three kids may be dead or that the three kids may have done something terrible (possibly under the influence of Baitface).
There is some street slang I might not have understood had I not seen them used in telly dramas, so perhaps it's useful to point out that "G" stands for "gangster," but is a term of endearment referring to members of your group, just as Michael Jackson once taught us that "Bad" can mean "Good" lol. Further, "bare" typically means "alot of," as in "there are bare reviews on theatre board." And a "Bally" (they briefly define this one for us in a rap) is a balaclava, which may be useful to prevent yourself being falsely accused of a crime, or alternatively, may disguise your identity if you in fact commit a crime.
Anyway, the lore rocks, and I imagine it will find its way into a film at some point. At that point, I imagine the complexity of the storytelling will be reduced so as to create a greater sense of dynamism rather than a sense of being static and puzzling.
That said, the solution to the puzzle is satisfying, and the entire ensemble are compelling and dynamic where the storytelling sometimes fails to be.
Overall, 3 and a half stars from me for bringing the live creeping horror of the movies to the Upstairs space!
