NB: This was the first review that I did over on my personal blog and it only seems right that it be brought over here seeing as it was the inspiration for me to start Sightlines UK. It was originally written on 13th April 2023.

The Review:

Last night my husband and I had a (fairly rare) chance for an evening out sans les enfants and we took full advantage – heading off quite happily to the Studio at Curve Theatre, Leicester to watch When Darkness Falls – A Ghost Story by James Milton & Paul Morrissey.

I am a regular theatre goer as some of you know – heading out (usually to Curve and usually for a musical) whenever money allows but this is the first time I have actually reviewed a production but….well…there’s a first for everything….so here goes.

We had no idea what to expect from the story or the production meaning we were literally a blank slate for the production to paint its story upon and paint its story it did.

When we entered the Studio to take our seats we were handed a newsletter for the ‘Guernsey Historical Society’ giving us a little pre-sight into the mind of the Society’s President John Blondel (very capably played by Tony Timberlake from Maggie May and The Mousetrap amongst other productions) and our ears were subjected to the most monotonic recording of a paranormal podcast which had us both hoping that the actual performance was nowhere near droning as that voice…..and that hope was fulfilled.

The setting is the office of John Blondel with its feel of a disorganised, older historian – boxes half opened, books all over the place, a make-do kitchen and chairs patched up with Gaffa tape give the impression of someone who has their head in a book of history rather than the aesthetics and convenience of current times. A gentleman who is embarking on a new mission with new technology – a podcast to record for the first time – reminding me of when my parents first picked up a smart phone, wanting to do all the new fangled things it can do without having a clue how to actually do it.

John Blondell’s first guest on the new podcast is The Speaker ( wonderfully played by Thomas Dennis – Henry V and Warhorse et al.) who has come to debate the existence of ghosts and the paranormal with the self-declared non believer, John. The debate did lose me on occasion as they went into terminology and thoughts that were a little beyond me but that didn’t detract from the talented acting behind these debates and I very quickly was re-absorbed into the unfolding scenarios in front of me.

I am not going to go into the story as that would be unfair to the production and future audiences but there were plenty of occasions where a well placed thunderclap or blackout had many of us jumping in the seats, occasionally followed by the typical mini ‘self-giggle’ as we berated ourselves for allowing the shock to affect us. Suggestive lighting, script and music opened our minds to ‘what might happen’ and had us looking for the next spooky moment – exactly as a good ghost story should – keeping us on our toes even if ‘what might happen’ didn’t.

The writing, in places, gave a very Women In Black-esque feel to the show and it was done as well as when we watched that particular show when it toured – or should that be black-ish? We debated that on the way home and still couldn’t decide!

In the interval hubby and I swapped theories – with a plethora of possible directions that we could be taken in – trying to see if we could work out the twist (if there even was one – we didn’t know), seeing if we could work out how the storytellers were ably taking us down one road that we would, literally, lean forward into expectantly, only to be taken along another in subtle turns we weren’t even aware of until we chatted after the show, comparing notes on our trip home and late into the evening.

For me a good show is one that has you talking about it afterwards – covering all aspects – the staging, the tricks, the acting, the story – all of it and When Darkness Falls gave us all of these things. We would happily go back and watch this one again – maybe with our 16 year old next time who we are sure would jump in exactly the same places we did.