Georgina Beaty (as Hazel Sheehan) and Nathan Schmidt (as James Flynn) in the Vertigo Theatre BD&P Mystery Theatre Series production of HURON BRIDE by Hannah Moskovitch. PHOTO by: Benjamin Laird |

 

Huron Bride

Vertigo Theatre

January 25 – February 23, 2014

http://www.vertigotheatre.com/main/index.php?site=mystery&id=production&production=221

Listen to my full review of Huron Bride on CBC’s Calgary Eyeopener at http://www.cbc.ca/eyeopener/columnists/theatre/2014/02/03/goldman-reviews-huron-bride/

 

RATING

For those that like to be spooked – The dark set, shadowy lighting and jarring sound design all do well to conjure an eerie effect. But a spooky atmosphere can easily be made mute by unintentionally comical direction that has characters washing the floors in the dark by lantern light. How do you not miss spots? Add to this the over-used desecrated Native burial ground trope and characters so flat there is little possibility of connection to their horror. SKIP IT

For the occasional theatre goer – As usual, the set design at Vertigo is impressive and apart from their horrendous misuse or absent accents, the cast is decent enough. The constant blackouts and shadowy ghost scenes may tickle your fancy and perhaps you won’t be bothered by the lack of originality in the story. MAYBE SEE IT

For the theatre junkie – A Moscovitch/Rose collaboration falling flat? How disappointing. Trust me, I know. But they both failed to follow their own advice as written in the program – “make sure the audience can connect with the characters in order to feel tier horror”. Moscovitch fails to do this by writing flat and senseless characters and Rose nails the coffin with his use of constant blackout direction that only highlights the banality of the scenes in between. SKIP IT