Writer: Julius Wills
Converting not one, but three Lovecraft stories into a single production, this is a packed and pacy play that tries to cover a lot of ground but feels thinly spread.
Based on the three stories Dagon, The Horror at Red Hook and Herbert West: Reanimator, the script from Julius Wills gives us a trainee doctor obsessed with his ability to reanimate dead flesh, a lost soul who discovers an ocean-based cult and then takes over New York high society, and a tough detective seeking to bring a little bit of justice to the world.
Smashing three distinct stories together is never going to give a perfectly smooth result and for sure this play has rough edges. The air of menace created from the story of the disturbed Doctor is the dominant theme, and the destructive impact his actions have as he ploughs through communities and people is palpable.
It’s in the cult story where we get a jar – the performance and some of the scripting veers from useful comic relief into zaniness. It’s funny, to some extent, but that note of silliness spoils the mood. We’re also left not quite satisfied with each strand – we don’t quite get to know the source of the Doctor’s obsession, much details of the actual cult, nor what makes our cop hero so determined.
With each of our three main characters we see the terrible results of obsession, and they’re great vehicles for this theme. With a lot going on, this identifiable link helps keep us on track. The five performers here mostly have multiple roles, swapping out props, accessories and accents fluidly but a little chaotically.
Wills’ grisly supernatural story gets buoyed by the smart elements of a noir cop drama. It has some compelling moments, largely as part of the police story. It does a serviceable job of each of the three elements but it’s hard to imagine them stronger as a collective than they were individually.
Runs until 18 February 2023
