The Enfield Haunting - Brighton / Richmond / Ambassadors

I'll go see it in Richmond

God, I love Catherine Tate. I’m pretty excited for this!!

Doctor Who alums keep getting employed on theatre as they should!! David Tennant in the Scottish play for Donmar, Catherine Tate in The Enfield Haunting, Indira Varma in another Scottish play production opposite Ralph Fiennes, Frema Agyeman is going to do God of Carnage at the Lyric Hammersmith this September.

And don’t forget Ncuti Gatwa who is also starring in Barbie the movie and the final season of Sex Education, and Yasmin Finney in Heartstopper.

This has mysteriously had it's Thursday matinee cancelled tomorrow at very short notice. Anybody got any scoop?

The comments on the official FB after last night's first performance are particularly bad, some saying it's the worst thing they've ever seen. I have two sets of friends going tonight, will report back with their opinions.

Not good at all, according to my theatre spies.

Both commented on how this play doesn't focus on the beginning or the end of the actual case, just a section in the middle. This ends up making it feel dramatically inert and pointless.

Very muted response from the audience.

I don't have any memory of reading such disgust about a production in the past.

I would be curious if it wasn't for the consensus that nothing at all happens.

Wonder if they will cancel the London run?

The FB comments are universally awful. It must be so disheartening for the company and a total source of panic for John Brant who is producing.

Context: www.facebook.com/EnfieldHauntingPlay/reviews

Seems to have gone.

It's a shame considering after the disastrous reviews for Lyonesse and King Lear - star names doesn't equate success unfortunately. And nor should they. We regularly see people posting people pay to see the show not the star and if people aren't getting their money's worth, we need to point the finger back at producers and directors for putting on subpar work whilst charging £££ a ticket. It doesn't reflect well on the stars either if they're part of messy shows

I've seen it and the reviews aren't far off. I only paid £20 so probably feel less passionate than those who forked out hundreds, but it was in no way worth what it was charging. The script is fundamentally broken, which makes me concerned there's not a lot you can do with it. It's trapped between wanting to be a traditional bit of suspense ghost-story telling and a more critical analysis of the psychological aspects surrounding the case, as well as the impact of unspoken abuse on the domestic setting. It doesn't pull off the balancing act though, and the result is it flounders doing both, creating something that's rather meandering and lacking in resonance. I didn't feel as strongly as others simply because I didn't feel much at all. Definitely needs a complete overhaul if it's heading to London, but I think it might be too late for that.

I do feel for the cast because there's not a lot you can do with it. It's a play which manages to make the Enfield Poltergeist quite boring - how do you work with that as a performer? Threlfall tries his best to inject some life, but even then the line between Grosse's eccentric doddering and the meandering quality of some of the dialogue starts to blur, bringing any tension to a halt. 

It's a real shame because the general idea of it is very theatrical - a contained space, bubbling domestic tension, the question of whether someone is lying to you. But the atmosphere in the room on opening night was palpable, people were just not engaged. 

Saw it tonight, avoid at all costs. Genuinely one of the most terrible nights in the theatre. How anyone thought this play was good enough to have a professional production is a mystery.

Catherine Tate looks like a deer in headlights, like she's arrived on stage and suddenly realised there's no actual character for her to play. I have no idea why she thought this was worth her time. David Threlfall at least has an actual character with some kind of arc but she has nothing to really work with.

The script is the main problem, completely inert, no real drama, and terrible dialogue. I felt sorry for the actors having to try and make something of this.

There is now an interval, we thought since the second act is only 40 minutes we might as well stay but the second act is even worse and given there is no real resolution or any real drama at all you wouldn't miss anything if you didn't.

Just a pointless waste of everyone's time.