Over the last twenty years, Torben Betts has built up a reputation for writing dark comedies of social embarrassment. In Invincible, for example, the pomposity of a well-to-do couple is punctured when they invite over their refined neighbours for some non-alcoholic drinks and nibbles.
Murder in the Dark, however, sees Betts writing in a strikingly different vein. I don’t wish to give away too much of the play’s plot as the first page of the theatre programme implores audiences to "spread the word (but not the spoilers)". That being said, the play’s marketing materials have described it as a "thriller" and "spine-chilling ghost story", so I feel free to say that the play’s twists and turns put me in mind of the brilliant Ealing supernatural chiller Dead of Night from 1945 and some of the more disturbing episodes of Black Mirror.
After crashing his car in a lonely country lane, former pop star Danny (Tom Chambers) finds himself—and his extended family—spending New Year’s Eve in an isolated holiday cottage deep in the English countryside. Also in attendance are the wife and son he abandoned to pursue his musical career, Rebecca (Rebecca Charles) and Jake (Jonny Green), his resentful older brother, William (Owen Oakeshott), and his age-inappropriate girlfriend, Sarah (Laura White).
The cottage is owned by Mrs Bateman (Susie Blake), whose initially harmless and scatter-brained exterior disguises a wicked sense of mischief. Did she poison her husband as one of the locals alleged? Is she the sadistic babysitter who tormented Danny and Williams as young boys? And does she have anything to do with the ghostly apparition which frightens some of the characters?
As a fan of the spooky and macabre, I found Murder in the Dark an engaging and often enjoyable piece of work. Notwithstanding The Woman in Black and Ghost Stories, I have rarely encountered stage productions which I would describe as genuinely chilling. While Murder in the Dark doesn’t quite match the calibre of these plays, there are some pleasingly creepy and tense moments—and just the right amount of jump scares.
On a less positive note, I found myself repelled at times by the sheer unpleasantness of the characters. Jake, for example—who I concede has legitimate reasons for disliking his absent father—doesn’t reveal any tenderness or vulnerability to temper his youthful angst. Similarly, twentysomething Anna is mostly defined by her obsession with mobile phone reception.
The older characters, however, are more convincingly rendered, and Tom Chambers makes for a strong leading man. As the play becomes increasingly disturbing and surreal, he provides an emotional anchor for the audience and manages to capture Danny’s increasing sense of anguish and paranoia.
Best of all, however, is the reliably excellent Susie Blake. Having watched her shine as the benign (but razor sharp) Miss Marple in The Mirror Crack’d, it was a pleasure to watch her take on a less wholesome role.
Pacily directed by Philip Franks, Murder in the Dark is a well-constructed chiller that mixes jump-out-of-your-seat scares with moments of unnerving dread.