Tales of Terror

The tales themselves, performed by Dawn Butler, Natalie Wilson and Philip Holyman (Artistic Director) were based on the stories of MR James and Lafcadio Hearn - neither of which I had previously heard of, but both of which clearly were masters in their own time of the creepy page-turner. Although, without the pages in this context.

I say 'in their own time' as the whole evening felt slightly archaic - not just because of the subject matter of these Victorian tales, but the whole set-up: it's not often that you see a whole group of adults sitting round listening to ghost stories. It seems to be a lost art; left only to boy scouts or bearded hippies.

This disjoint from the contemporary adult psyche provided an interesting dynamic: the pleasure of experiencing this lost art of storytelling, but also a bit of an emotional disconnect to the content. Though entitled 'Tales of Terror', I have to admit, it was difficult to actually be properly terrified. I wondered if this was a failure of imagination on my part, or just the fact that the kind of 'entertaining' terror we're so accustomed now is far more graphic and visually disturbing than these old-fashioned tales. Or perhaps we're too grown-up, too safe and comfortable to let such eerie 'nonsense' touch us. Or perhaps we can't really be scared of it unless we've seen it spelled out, with our own eyes, rather than with our imaginations.

Either way, The Happiness Patrol again demonstrated their expertise in bringing back the primacy of the story; demanding an active imaginative involvement on behalf of the audience - and rewarding them with that delicious sense of being lost in a story.

Image:Chris Keenan @ Prime Objective

So, I may not have been terrified, but I was certainly hooked. Truth be told, I could sit and listen to a good story well-told for hours on end; so perhaps it was as well that I didn't feel the need to run out screaming half-way through...