Inside No.9: Stage/Fright (2025) - Horror Play Review

When the great comedy thriller TV show Inside No.9 ended last year, I heard that the creators; Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith (Psychoville, The League of Gentlemen) were going to put out an Inside No.9 stage show as a final goodbye (titled Inside No.9: Stage/Fright). I fully expected this would stay within London and that I would never get to see it, but was delighted when I found out they were taking the show on tour. One of the locations was Milton Keynes, a city that is a half hour drive from my home.
For the past twenty five years or so I have loved their work. I remember being in English class while studying for my A-Levels and hearing classmates quoting the characters from The League of Gentlemen, making me want to check it out. I wasn't disappointed with that show, and Inside No.9 is basically that but with the creators more grown up, but with comedy no less dark and deranged 

Me and my father both had expected this new original stage based entry in the Inside No.9 series would tell one unique story over its two one hour halves. Instead it played with expectations a bit with plenty of rug pulls, misdirection and plays within the play. This gave the show almost an anthology feel to it that didn't let up from start to very showbiz ending. The self contained prologue taking place in the audience of a theatre production of Hamlet set things up well. Featuring dark humour and death this was a delightful introduction.
Before the story within the first half begins properly we get Shearsmith and Pemberton coming on stage to introduce it, as well as try to sell the idea that the theatre the play is being performed in is actually haunted. The majority of the first act is about two washed up comedians, who for a brief spell in the 1980s had had some semblance of fame on TV. They had performed under the name 'Cheese and Crackers', and the story told here is pretty much a recreation of season 4 episode 'Bernie Clifton's Dressing Room'. Shearsmith plays the straight one, someone who has moved on in life and left his comedic past behind. Pemberton meanwhile has an almost desperate feel to his wanting to bring their act back. A lot of the sketches they put on are the two washed up comedians re-doing past material, and purposely made to be cheesy and outdated, these were still quite hilarious to watch in their own right. Much of the humour coming from how outdated their references were, as well as out of vogue cultural impressions. Highlight was a very Inside No.9 feeling skit about two kidnappers who had accidentally kidnapped the wrong person, the incorrect person being a real life famous person that seemed like it would change based on where the show was being performed. Seeing it in Milton Keynes, the star here was a former Olympic long jump champion who I must confess I had absolutely no idea who he was until my father updated me in the intermission. Due to not knowing him, that section didn't work as well as it should have.

The interval came and we both said we had enjoyed it, I expected the second act would carry on the story, but instead it begins with a manic story set in an insane asylum that felt off kilter, macabre and darkly twisted in a way that really reminded me fondly of The League of Gentlemen. The characters here were larger than life, especially Shearsmith and Pemberton's roles, the former using that gravelly voice that echoed parts of both Papa Lazarus and my all time favourite character Geoff Tibbs. Their manic performances led up to a few gruesome jokes, including my very favourite joke of the entire show. Things are not as they seem and this leads into another story set on the stage of a theatre with a strong supernatural element to it. It even included some live action found footage segments of a character wandering around 'backstage' with a camera whose video feed is being projected onto the background of the stage. Once this story ends there are a few more misdirection and feints before the show finishes proper.

As expected, this is everything Inside No.9 but dialled up a bit. There is plenty of strong language, including a few uses of the 'c' word, and there is lots of death and violence over the two hour play. Multiple characters appear to be murdered on stage with a lot of inventiveness, from severed limbs and heads, to electrocution, and a face of sulphuric acid. All looked great on the stage (admittedly from my lofty position at the very back of the first floor of the seating area). I was pleased with the horror angle this went down. Often, the episodes on TV are more thrillers than horror, but here there were plenty of supernatural events, even if the idea the theatre itself was haunted always fell a bit flat when it was integrated into the show. It doesn't help that like everything in Milton Keynes, the theatre is relatively new compared to other places in the country.
I appreciated how beefy this felt, it would have been easy to just create an extended episode and have that be the show, instead there was a real effort to make use of it being played out on a stage, something the two main stars have plenty of experience with. There is no end of word play, Dad jokes, and inuendo that rarely failed to get a laugh. Even with the other actors who play roles there were laughs to be had, even though it was obviously the two leads who were the true stars.

It was such a pleasure to see these two people I have been watching on TV for the past 25 years or so in the flesh, I admit to being a bit starstruck watching these two, couldn't quite believe I was getting to be in the same room as them! That, and my love for their work may make me a bit biased, but minor quibbles aside, I really enjoyed watching Inside No.9: Stage/Fright and would certainly recommend it.

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Stranger Things: The First Shadow (2024) - Horror Play Review

With the comedic horror parody musical Stranger Sings last month still fresh in my mind I needed a palette cleanser. That luckily was to come in the form of Stranger Things: The First Shadow, an award winning play that was not only canonical to the TV series whose universe it takes place in, but was  based on an original story written by the Duffer Brothers, (alongside Jack Thorne and Kate Trefry), with Trefry writing the play. I watched the 13:00 showing in London on April 14th, I wasn't sure what to expect, but I was blown away somewhat by the amazing special effects used. With the show working as an origin story of sorts for the antagonist of season four of Stranger Things there are doubtless spoilers from that show contained here.
On a side note, I brought a Stranger Things mug, but it turns out that wasn't the only thing I brought back from London as I also picked up Covid for the second time and currently feel awful!

The majority of the two and a quarter hour show is set in 1959 in the town of Hawkins, in which a series of sadistic pet killings around the town have started happening. While the police think it is the work of a wild animal, some of the teenagers believe it is a person responsible. In particular, James Hopper Jr. (Oscar Lloyd), Joyce Maldonado (Isabella Pappas) and Bob Newby (Christopher Buckley), three high schoolers (the characters would of course come to have large roles in the TV series) who decide to take it upon themselves to try and find the killer. These killings coincide with the arrival of a new family in town, the Creels, with them having came to Hawkins to start over, due to an incident involving the strange boy Henry Creel (Michael Jinson). Unknown to most is that Henry has some strange powers, able to make dreams (or nightmares) come to life, and psychic abilities stemming from an incident in which he went missing in the Nevada desert a year previously. With much of the town having no time for the weird kid, he ends up forming a friendship with Bob's adopted sister Patty (Ella Karuna Williams) who sees his abilities as a gift, not a curse.

This was one of the most impressive stage shows I have seen, at least in terms of the amazing special effects used. With the older characters in the show not having any prior knowledge of the supernatural, the show makes effort to ensure this remains canonical, and while the trio of Hopper, Joyce and Bob take on a role similar to the kids in the TV show, their investigation not only fails, but they don't even discover the real culprit. The play is split between their goings-on and Henry's relationship with Patty. Henry always came across as real weird, but made for an enjoyable performance. The actor spoke in a similar way that The Riddler does in The Batman. Without going into too many spoilers, it gave some information on his character that I either missed or which wasn't mentioned in the series. He is a conflicted individual, with it shown that he almost has a split personality, there is the normal Henry, and then there is the supernatural being within him (that always leads to some great moments where Henry will be speaking normally before his voice becomes demonically distorted). The friendship with Patty seems to work, this is due to her backstory of feeling like an outsider herself due to being adopted and never knowing her birth parents. There were plenty of nods to the show, I loved that the parents of Nancy and Mike Wheeler show up as teens, with Ted Wheeler coming across as a super jock idiot. There are two end act zingers, with Dr Brenner (Patrick Vaill) appearing at the end of the first act, while a young Eleven appearing right at the end (the events of the play lead up to showing how Henry Creel became an orderly at Dr Brenner's institution). Act one mainly features Hawkins High School and Henry Creel's house, while act two has a lot of it set at Dr Brenner's facility.

Special effects were tremendous, as was the interesting set design. The stage had three concentric circles on it which could revolve at different times to each other, or spin in opposite directions. This was used at times to give the illusion of motion, with characters having walking and talking conversations without really moving from the spot. It was also used to give a 360 view on static scenes. There were different levels at times to the stage, with areas such as Henry Creel's attic, the command room of a boat, and the rafters in a drama room all looking more authentic due to being high up in the stage. At times a big screen comes down to cover the whole back of the stage. This is used to show the iconic red credits, display secret government documents, as well as to do drone shot flyovers of Hawkins, and to represent the dark upside down area. The upside down looked fantastic, typically introduced with two bright red horizontal bars coming down and then up again over the stage. At times a body double of Henry is used, so that he can be at once in the real world wearing a blindfold, and in the upside down interacting with characters. Occasionally cast members will appear in the audience, such as people in hazmat suits comedically examining random audience members belongings. 

I was impressed with the horror here. Being before the upside down proper the cool demogorgons only make a token appearance. There was a neat prologue set in the 1940's that featured one, and later a few are shown on TV screens in the lab. Henry being Vecna means he gets to do some of the stuff that character does. There was an impressive part when a cat flies up into the air, and then while suspended its limbs all snap with gnarly sound effects, the second act this is repeated but with a human. Obviously a dummy used both times, but I admit I didn't spot the swap between actor and dummy. There are plenty of times characters are suspended in mid air, I never once saw wires attached to the actors, so these always took my by surprise when they are suddenly psychically lifted up. There are a few jump scares, and moments of humour, and also the inclusion of blood. My favourite part was when a mouse in a cage was exploded, and another part where a test subject with a white hood over their face suddenly has blood dripping from where the eyes would be under the sheet. The very best effect comes towards the play end in which we watch a character fall from a great height, but created in slow motion, hard to describe but it looked so fantastic.

I loved Stranger Things: The First Shadow. It might not really add to much to the existing lore that hadn't been mentioned in the show itself, but it was delightful seeing such high quality special effects, and most importantly, it felt like Stranger Things despite being mainly set in the late 1950's rather than the eighties. If you get the chance to see this, it is well worth a watch, excellent stuff.

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Murdered, Presumed Dead - Play Review

So a bit of a weird blog post in that I am going to review a play I saw that was playing at the Duston Community Centre in Northampton. The play is put on by the Duston Players who are an amateur group and so with that in mind there will be some leeway.

After finding her husband John (Time Dwelly) in the arms of her supposed best friend Carol (Sarah James) Lynne shoots him dead. Being a pretty nasty woman Lynne blackmails Carol in to helping her cover up the murder, also enlisting the help of a shady P.I named Ronnie (Alastair Way). All seems to be going to plan until that is John shows back up, but as a ghost that only Lynne can see. From this point there are many, many twists and turns, is everyone as they really appear?