THE HAND and other creeping tales...

Review Highlights

 

 

Enter the space to strains of Gorecki's Symphony No. 3 "Sorrowful Songs".  A gargoyle leers on a large sheet of muslin swaying lazily.  A child skips.  A noose hangs, waiting to be filled. "The Hand and other creeping tales..." was adapted by Shirley Van Sanden from 3 stories by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu.

Director: Monica Main

Lighting Design: Fiona Reid

Featuring: Elwyn Edwards, Monica Main and Shirley Van Sanden

     

"When it comes to horror, modern audiences are generally remarkably sophisticated.  Quite a surprise, therefore, to discover that a live theatre piece, produced on a shoestring, could transport us ‘to the darkest recesses of the imagination and leave us there’”

Naomi Millet, The West Australian, 10/3/2001

 

“Aficionados of the fearful will relish Shirley Van Sanden’s intelligently staged adaption (directed by Monica Main) of three tales by 19th century Irish mystery writer Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu.  Van Sanden’s selections cover a range of supernatural themes, and while the Edgar Allen Poe-like lyrical text is powerful, it is the use of sound and Fiona Reid’s lighting that lends a palpable creepiness to each story”

Naomi Millet, The West Australian, 10/3/2001

 

“All three stories are richly layered with imagery and though the narrative style seems simple on the surface, each tale takes unexpected tangents, reworking traditional notions of stock horror figures like ghosts, poltergeists and vampires.”

Naomi Millet, The West Australian, 10/3/2001