Saturday, February 28, 2015
Let the Right One In: Can Horror Work Onstage?
Flavorwire: Throughout the National Theatre of Scotland’s Let the Right One In, adapted from John Ajvide Lindqvist’s novel and Tomas Alfredson‘s film, audiences are subjected to a parade of lyrically gruesome images: a man tied upside-down to a tree, his throat perfunctorily slit and drained into a bucket; another man literally self-effacing with acid; a diminutive teenage girl in a candy-pink sweater whose mouth brims with vomit when she actually tries to eat candy, and whose face cascades with blood every time she enters a home uninvited. All of this stirs a reverent, rapt silence in the audience. This is not the type of play where spectators listlessly turn to their programs mid-show, pretending that looking up the catering credits will somehow enhance their experience.
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9 comments:
This sounds like one of the best theatrical innovations of our time. Honestly, a truly gripping and horrifying performance is what the world needs. Cutting through the happy-go-lucky or serious devotion theatre performances are thought to have, Let the Right One In seems to take the theatrical experience in a whole new - and very compelling direction. I have always loved horror movies, even the ones that were a little too scary for me. I’ve always felt the need to stick it through and see the whole thing. The dynamic of a horror story done well is the epitome of exciting. The article constantly refers to the experience as a type of ‘roller coaster’ and if that is the case, it is exactly what I am looking for. When the show comes to America, I’m sure it will be an even bigger hit and cause a ripple in horror performances.
While this plan does seem like it has all of the characteristics of a commercially successful piece, I can't help but feel like this genre is going to continue to fail on typical proscenium-style stages. I personally feel like it's going to be very hard to make any of these kinds of productions work in the first place, but with a traditional stage, your problems are only magnified. A lot of the appeal to horror films is the ability for them to take you into the story, or even into the characters mind. With the physical distance in between the performance and the audience members, it's very difficult to get involved in a horror themed theatrical piece.
What I do feel is that there are several solutions that could make this genre more successful. For one, the stage itself should be more true to the story. These pieces work best in warehouse settings, where the audience is really inside the set itself. Additionally, some of the kinds of horror have to be examined. The differences in psychological thrillers and slasher films are vast, and some are definitely more engaging when staged than others.
This article sends shivers down my spine. I'm not the biggest fan of adaptations for a non educational environment, but this production seemed to have a purpose because of a challenge. Horror is definitely a challenge on the stage, but the artistic directors seem to be on the right track of creating an environment that is eerie, yet relatable for the audience. Looking at pictures of the scenic design, it looks like it really captures a snowed in playground. And I think adding the blood to this white set adds a great visual to emphasize the gore in this play adaption. And I like the the director really wants to focus on the love story of this play and not so much the elements within the show. I would really like to see this production and analyze if the goals they had for the show worked. I would also be curious to know how they were able put horror on the stage and make it look real.
I absolutely love the horror genre. It’s so fascinating to me how simple things can terrify an audience. Although I really want horror to work onstage, I do not think that it will ever truly succeed. The problem with doing horror on stage is that the basis of horror is darkness and jump scares which are hard to achieve with a large open space. Close shots are a lot easier to work with and they are often used in horror films. I have high hopes of Let The Right One In, though. The shows seems to have a very solid plan and execution of their special effects and the show in general. It’s run long enough that other plays could be written in a similar style and create an whole new genre of theatre. I really hope that the latter does happen, as the horror playground piece was so incredible that I would love to see more things like that onstage.
Coming right off of seeing Wolves, I'm all in for horror theater. In fact, the first show I ever saw and was influenced by was a horror show at a Halloween festival. It involved a man pulling a beating heart out of a man's chest. It was terrifying and realistic and at age 5, I had nightmares for weeks. Nevertheless, this is a genre that we don't talk about often. Sure, you can't get through a Netflix queue without seeing a line for scary movies, but when's the last time horror theater was advertised to public? If these movies are so scary, what's stopping us from going farther and pushing it to the stage?
With horror theater, it's so darn interesting because the actors are performing this feat onstage with no help from special effects in post-production. For instance, the girl whose mouth fills with vomit when she eats candy had got to have gone through some intense rehearsal and probably requires an insane amount of self control and dedication. That can't be easy. However, it's so easy to do these things wrong, which is probably why most people don't delve into this genre. It can easily be poorly done so for Let the Right One In to have gotten these reviews, it must be pretty well done. Too bad we're in America.
I'm not the biggest fan of horror, the issue being that I either get too scared, too disgusted, or get too bored. Horror is tricky because erring too much on the side of subtlety or humor is dull, and can make the bloodiest gore seem ridiculous. Those who do it right, as it seems this show has done, rely on the suspense and the story far more than they rely on missing limbs or burning entrails. I think they are right in saying that theatre is a good venue for horror because theatergoers are both a captive audience, and an audience that is physically in the room, enough to respond the the mood within the room. However, since the thing unique about theatre-horror is this audience presence, I think those who practice the genre will find that immersive theatre environments (the article references "Sleep No More") will be far more effective.
When I think of horror in terms of movies I think of the way the camera is used to trick the eye. They’l shake the camera like a real person is holding it or have a noise off screen so the character turns quickly and looks. They’ll flick through multiple viewpoints to cover up the actual violence and leave it to your imagination. All these things would be incredibly hard to reproduce on a stage where the audience only has one view. I agree with the article when it says that gore is seen as comical when on stage. I think this has a lot to do with it being a live performance so the audience knows that whatever happens no one is going to die. The same is true of course with movies, but the audience and characters are separated by a tv screen and they are a lot more up close and personal with the violence because a camera can zoom in, but you can’t zoom in your seat. I am reminded of the media usage in Wolves when the monitor would flash a semi-demonic face every time the narrator whispered in Ben’s ear. There was a little jolt of terror in that flash because you couldn’t really see what the picture was, only that it was scary. It would be interesting to see what media could add to theatre to give it it’s own horror genre.
Let me preface this by saying that horror movies have always had a way of terrifying me for weeks on end. I am pretty easily freaked out by those kinds of things. However, I found that I was absolutely fascinated when I saw Slaugh during Playground. It was a horror piece in the Chosky that was incredibly intimate and very chilling. There is something about it being a personal experience that makes it even more terrifying, but at the same time, all the more compelling to me. I think this is definitely a difficult feat to accomplish, since even some horror films are laughable. Definitely an interesting concept though and I look forward to seeing where it goes.
I think a horror genre of theater should gain attention and should start to more actively be explored. I have rarely ever heard of any of my friends going to a theater and seeing a play that was genuinely scary or disturbing, but I definitely think it’s a context worth exploring. Theater is about immersion, storytelling, expressing ideas and emotions, sure it’s not quite as delightful, but why shouldn’t we explore dark and sinister things? Why should we stray away from horror when there are ideas to play with there? I’m all for new works that build up this horror genre of theater because I think it’ll open the door for some really intuitive work. We can’t always just focus on the light appealing things, there’s a whole other side of the human perspective, and perhaps we need to be thrust into the dark to find it. Up until now I think the idea of a horror genre of theater has been suppressed due to the high upstanding proper reputation of theater that was the status quo. Horror doesn’t normally fit within this proper perspective and the genre is usually associated with the lower class for its cheap jump scares, and sometimes lousy low-budget special effects. In respect to that I think horror has often been ignored in the theater world, but in our current more modern setting, I think the time has come for it to gain a voice.
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