The apparent presence of a poltergeist in a North London council house home of the Hodgson family in 1977 caused a stir in some of the media that was followed by television dramatisations and documentaries and now this play, described by its writer as a work of the imagination inspired by reality.
If the story ever impinged on my radar, I failed to remember it, so the succession of unexplained happenings from flickering lights and the strange sounds voiced by a young teenager to moving objects, a gas fire ripped from a wall and a girl disappearing to be found in a bed next door, were all intriguingly new to me.
The happenings held my attention but they didn’t scare me; perhaps I am just too familiar with stage blackouts, sudden apparitions, flashing lights and strange noises, for though there may be a frisson among others in the audience at theatrical supernatural excursions, I find myself more interested in how they are done—and in this case that’s deftly.
The story is told in the context of the phenomena being investigated by a pair from the Society of Psychical Research, though we only meet one of them: Maurice Grosse (David Threlfall). He is no expert on the paranormal (that is unseen colleague Guy Lyon-Playfair) but responsible for recording and photographing things and very concerned for the family’s safety. That is why he has turned up unexpectedly on the night when the play is set: to support single mum Peggy (Catherine Tate) and watch over her children, 12-year-old Janet (Ella Schrey-Yeats), her sister Margaret (Grace Molony) and younger brother Jimmy (Noah Leggott on press night).
At first, the play feels very dated, a condescending picture of a comic working class like a pre-1950s comedy, though Catherine Tate and David Threlfall work hard to create a more realistic picture of frazzled mother Peggy and concerned Gross (who has his own tragedy to handle), but they don’t have much to work with.
Though the Hodgson girls admit to faking some of the happenings, many things are inexplicable and Paul Unwin’s script doesn’t offer solutions. Ella Schrey-Yeats certainly plays Janet as though she is possessed, and Grace Molloy’s Margaret is a rebellious teenager.
The visits of Mo Sesay’s next door neighbour Rey and the brief appearance of Neve Mcintosh as Grosse’s wife Betty hint at unexplored stories and make one wonder what was there when the play first opened in Brighton in November. Its West End opening was postponed and now it lasts under 90 minutes, packed with happenings but with no depth.