Horror, as they say, is having a moment. Certainly at the movies, where such low-budget efforts as Obsession and Backrooms have become two of the biggest left-field hits of the year. So it’s not surprising that Broadway would attempt to get into the act with Paranormal Activity, a stage play based on the 2007 micro-budget horror film that went on to gross $194 million and spawn seven sequels, with another arriving next year.
It would be easy to expect that the show arriving on Broadway after previous runs in England and several North American cities, to be a mere crash grab. But it turns out to be a superbly staged ghost story that has audience members alternately screaming in terror and laughing in delight. A recent preview attracted a sell-out crowd of the sort of younger people who routinely go to the movies on weekend nights. The older matinee crowd might want to make sure they’re up-to-date on their heart medications before seeing it.
The creators of the show have more than a little experience with this sort of material. Playwright Levi Holloway previously scared Broadway audiences with the similarly eerie if short-lived Grey House; director Felix Barrett, a founder and artistic director of Punchdrunk, staged the long-running, spookily immersive Sleep No More; and illusion designer Chris Fisher worked his literal magic in such shows as Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and Stranger Things: The First Shadow. Together they’ve designed a production that feels as much a haunted house attraction as an evening at the theater.
[Read Michael Sommers’ ★★★☆☆ review here.]
The storyline, loosely inspired by the film, concerns a young married couple, James and Lou (Travis A. Knight and Cher Alvarez, both making their Broadway debuts), who have just moved from Chicago to London where James’ company has put them up in a modern, two-story home. (The London setting provides the opportunity for a near-constant stream of rainfall outside).
The couple are young and happily married, hoping to have a baby that will reside in the room upstairs that they’ve designated as a nursery. But Lou suffers from debilitating headaches and depression which we eventually learn is a result of a severe traumatic event from her childhood.
As the play begins, we hear an excerpt from a psychic’s podcast to which Lou has become addicted. The ominous narration includes a vital clue as to the mystery of what will transpire when the psychic intones, “Places aren’t haunted, people are.”
It doesn’t take long before things start going bump in the night, with the couple jolted by sudden loud noises, unexplained power outages, and various other strange events. Director Barrett piles on the cinematic-style jump scares, keeping us in a state of tension from the start. The bizarre happenings put a strain on the relationship, with the ever-rational James, an avowed atheist who doesn’t believe in ghosts, not exactly endearing himself to his wife when he asks, “Did you take your meds today?”
“You’re literally gaslighting me!” she tells him at one point, providing a certainly not unintended reference to a Broadway thriller of a past era.
Other characters figuring in the proceedings are James’ religious-minded mother Carolanne (a terrific Shannon Cochran), who pops up periodically via FaceTime to deliver her two cents which include many criticisms of her daughter-in-law, and the aforementioned psychic/medium (Eva Kaminsky, providing gravitas) whom the couple summon to their home to conduct a séance and find out exactly who is haunting them.
Truth be told, Paranormal Activity isn’t very much of a play, with its characters and situations rarely rising above surface level and suffering from a rushed, surprise denouement in which the ghostly mystery is resolved in contrived fashion.
But it works like gangbusters nonetheless thanks to the committed performances by the ensemble (it helps that the leads are unfamiliar, making us more fully identify with their characters’ plight) and Barrett’s knockout staging that has the audience in its thrall for all 130 minutes, including intermission. Scenic designer Fly Davis’ superbly realized two-story set, exposing the house’s kitchen, living area, staircase, bedroom, nursery, and bathroom, feels fully lived-in by humans and spirits alike.
Anna Watson’s lighting design, which includes the shadows of ghostly figures who induce gasps, and Garth Fry’s sound design, featuring a steadily rumbling drone that keeps us on edge, provide expertly creepy atmosphere. And illusions designer Fisher has devised some knockout effects, including a sudden reveal involving one of the characters that had the audience screaming their heads off.
Theatergoers hoping for a sophisticated ghost story like The Weir or The Woman in Black will probably find the evening hopelessly lowbrow. But if you’re simply looking for a scary good time and can endure the frequently deafening sound level, Paranormal Activity is the show for you.
