SHOCK HORROR
New Theatre Royal
★★★
“a feast for the eyes and ears, an impressive piece of theatrical engineering”
Writer and director Ryan Simons delivers an ambitious fusion of live theatre and cinema in Shock Horror, a piece that dazzles through its craft and atmosphere even as its story never quite grips. The show’s technical brilliance is undeniable, its emotional impact less so. What lingers are the images and the creeping sense of dread conjured on stage, not the people within them.
Herbert, played by Alex Moran, is a young man returning to the decaying Metropol Cinema where he spent his childhood. On screen appear flickering figures from his past: his mother Norma (Chloe Carter), his father Jack (Joseph Carter) and a visiting priest, Father Karras (Chris Blackwood). These names will sound familiar to devotees of horror cinema, drawn as they are from Psycho, The Shining and The Exorcist. Throughout the evening, overt and subtle nods to horror classics appear through snatches of dialogue, sound-alike musical motifs and carefully chosen props. From the outset, with its references to the warped parental figures of Psycho and The Shining, it is clear we are in psychological horror territory where the sins of the parents are visited upon the child. As the performance unfolds, the family’s secrets and traumas are revealed through a mixture of live action and projected film, the two worlds bleeding effectively into one another. The conceit is bold and often mesmerising, though the narrative beneath it lacks substance.
The creative team excel in transforming the theatre into a haunted picture palace. Ethan Cheek’s set design evokes a once-grand cinema now rotting from within, complete with peeling plaster, flickering bulbs and reels of forgotten film. Georgia Batterley’s production and vision direction weave stage and screen together with precision, allowing Herbert to interact with his projected memories in ways that are both technically impressive and psychologically unsettling. For much of its running time it is in effect a one-man show, with Moran alone on stage engaging with phantoms both cinematic and emotional. His performance is physically and vocally committed, combining the nervy energy of a man on the edge of breakdown with the vulnerability of a lost boy in search of love.
Lighting designers Andrew Crofts and Matt Carnazza make superb use of shadow and glare. Beams cut through haze like projector light, creating shifting silhouettes on the screen. An unhealthy greenish tint spreads across the set in key moments, lending the space a sickly atmosphere that suggests decay and moral corrosion. Ben Parsons’s soundscape is a triumph of cinematic unease, blending natural and unnatural sounds: the wailing of wind, echoing whispers and sudden piercing screeches that jolt the audience from silence. John Bulleid’s illusions provide genuine surprises, notably a sinister ventriloquist’s dummy in the second half, which gives Herbert something tangible to interact with. Director of Photography Dave Hackney’s filmed sequences integrate seamlessly with the stage action, with framing, editing and close-ups suggesting the fragmented texture of memory. The scenes featuring Chloe Carter, Joseph Carter and Chris Blackwood feel like recollections that have been replayed and reworked over the years, moments half-remembered and distorted by guilt or fear. The film material does not so much depict the past as reconstruct it, giving the impression that what we see is drawn from Herbert’s shifting, unreliable perspective rather than objective reality.
Simons’ direction sustains tension and momentum, and the production succeeds as a sensory experience, though it falters as drama. Shock Horror is a feast for the eyes and ears, an impressive piece of theatrical engineering that showcases Thunder Road’s creative ambition. In terms of stagecraft it earns five stars, but the inventiveness of its form is not matched by the strength of its storytelling. Herbert’s journey lacks clear purpose, the fragmented structure keeps the audience at a remove, and the characters never quite come alive. The result is a show that startles, unsettles and immerses, yet rarely moves.
SHOCK HORROR
New Theatre Royal then UK Tour continues
Reviewed on 27th October 2025
by Ellen Cheshire
Photography by Marc Brenner
Previously reviewed at this venue:
TESS | ★★★★ | February 2025
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST | ★★★★ | December 2024
