It Walks Around The House At Night at Hull Truck Theatre Review

Reviews

7 Oct

Sometimes you go into the theatre knowing exactly what you’re about to see. You’ve read the synopsis, maybe spotted a few reviews, perhaps even watched the trailer. And then there are some occasions when you take your seat knowing absolutely nothing, settling in for a story with no idea where it might take you.

My evening watching It Walks Around The House At Night at Hull Truck Theatre very much fell into the latter category.

In fact, this was my first time seeing a spooky play, which feels somewhat ridiculous considering how much I love anything else spooky. Books, games, films… I’m very much in my element when there’s a ghost or something sinister lurking around a corner. So I was more than ready to see what the theatre could do with a good old-fashioned ghost story… and it didn’t take long to find out.

Written by Tim Foley and performed by ThickSkin, the story follows Joe, an out-of-work actor who takes a job playing a ghost at an old countryside manor. What initially sounds like a fairly straightforward gig involving a costume and a few cheap scares soon becomes something far more unsettling, as the line between performance and reality begins to blur.

I went in knowing none of this, and was pleasantly greeted with an early jump scare (complete with audience squeals), a healthy dose of humour, and a story that had me eager to find out what was going to happen next. That sense of anticipation became one of my favourite parts of the evening. I found myself eagerly waiting for everything to unfold, trying to work out where it was taking me.

Much of that storytelling is brought to life thanks to Joe’s narration, with George Naylor delivering a bloomin’ brilliant performance. The writing is witty and engaging, giving the play plenty of personality alongside its darker moments, and George Naylor carried the story with an impressive amount of energy and control. (I was also in awe of how quickly he could get his boots on and off. Lord knows it takes me a good five minutes just to wiggle my feet into a pair of boots, so watching him repeatedly do it at speed was a performance in itself…)

And while George Naylor provides the voice of the story, Joshua Pharo’s lighting and Pete Malkin’s sound tech provides its atmosphere. And oh my, did they provide.

The set itself is relatively minimal, with a slanted floor and shifting silhouettes, allowing the technical elements to really shine. Every creak, footstep and sudden bang arrived at precisely the right moment, while the lighting was timed so perfectly that it often felt as though things were shifting from one spot to another without actually moving, or completely appearing from nowhere.

The lack of an interval worked well for me, too. I normally love a good theatre interval - a stretch of the legs and a mini tub of ice cream - but by the time we reached the point where a break might normally come, I was completely hooked. Stepping away from the story for twenty minutes might have broken some of the tension and taken me out of the story a little bit. Allowing it to continue uninterrupted kept me firmly inside the lodge and gardens of Paragon Hall.

And I think the intimate setting of Hull Truck Theatre was the perfect place for it too. There’s something about sitting relatively close to the action that makes a spooky play feel just a little bit more personal, especially one as story-driven as this one.

It Walks Around The House At Night takes some familiar ghost story ingredients - a haunted house, unexplained noises, the ever-present possibility that something isn’t quite what it seems - and gives them a fresh twist, along with enough wit and humour to stop the atmosphere becoming too heavy. For my first experience of a spooky play, I really couldn’t have asked for much more.

The whole night reminded me that you don’t necessarily need an elaborate set or a huge cast to create something genuinely creepy. Sometimes all you need is a good story, a sole body on stage, and a perfectly timed creak!

If you’re partial to a good ghost story, enjoy a few jump scares, and appreciate theatre that has a healthy dose of atmosphere, It Walks Around The House At Night is well worth a watch. Just don’t make your way home through the forest afterwards…

You can catch It Walks Around The House At Night at Hull Truck Theatre until 8th October, or find more dates and locations on the ThickSkin website.
★★★★