THE ENFIELD HAUNTING at the Ambassadors Theatre

★½

“Unfortunately, The Enfield Haunting is a very bad play”

Between 1977 and 1979, the story of the Enfield poltergeist gripped the British public. A ghostly spirit had allegedly taken up lodgings in a council house in the London Borough of Enfield, creating havoc for the working-class family who lived there. The Enfield Haunting, written by Paul Unwin and directed by Angus Jackson, is based on these supposedly paranormal events, providing some potential answers for the still unresolved case. To inform his theatrical retelling, Unwin spoke with Guy Lyon-Playfair, a member of the Society of Psychical Research, who visited the site of the Enfield poltergeist 180 times.

Catherine Tate stars as Peggy Hodgson, single parent and matriarch of the family. The middle child, Janet (Ella Schrey-Yeats), has begun displaying strange episodes of behaviour – she convulses violently and speaks in tongues but then seemingly remembers none of it. Elsewhere in the house, objects and furniture appear to move on their own accord, fuses go out suddenly, and a haunting male figure is spotted lurking in the shadows.

Much to the family’s dismay, Maurice Grosse (David Threlfall), a British paranormal investigator, takes up near-residence in the house, monitoring the goings-on with his special equipment night after night. Clashing with neighbour ‘Uncle’ Rey (Mo Sesay) who believes these spooky happenings are merely pranks in collaboration with the other children, Margaret (Grace Molony) and Jimmy (Noah Leggott), the Hodgsons try and navigate their newfound national notoriety.

All sounds rather exciting, right? The source material is interesting and there is great potential to explore a long history of ‘hysterical’ young women and the mayhem they can cause. Unfortunately, The Enfield Haunting is a very bad play. The script is painfully weak – conversations and dialogue drag on for far longer than they need to. Rey delivers monologues of no substance that espouse the same points over and over again. Tate, a brilliant actress on stage and the silver screen, is pretty much reduced to saying the same two lines on repeat – ‘Please go home, Rey!’ and ‘I don’t know, Mr Grosse!’ – which is a tremendous waste of her talent.

“the tension is completely lacking”

Within its short 75-minute run-time (cut down by over 30 minutes from the previews), the play simply tries to cover too much. We are treated to not one but TWO twists which do not meld together at all. It is almost as if the production thought they’d try out both, see which gets the best reaction, and run with that. Unfortunately, both fall a bit flat, eliciting notable giggles from the audience.

Schrey-Yeats does well to bring some creepiness to this bland production. Molony is a good support as the eldest child, sufficiently vexatious in manner. Threlfall is given the richest character to explore, and he does what he can to bring some eccentricity and humour to the tale.

The set – designed by Lee Newby – is rather wonderful, a two-storey interior of the infamous house. The sound design (Carolyn Downing) is also strong – the music is atmospheric, the tension built well in these moments. Overall, however, the tension is completely lacking. The pacing is off. The recreation of the most iconic photo from the case – Janet seemingly floating in mid-air in their bedroom – happens so flippantly in the first 15-minutes that it is easily missed.

The illusions – led by Paul Kieve – are OK – a figure appears suddenly in the house before a sudden blackout allows him ample time to move. But nothing is unexplainable – except why the production team thought this play was fit for stage.

It is a great shame that something so well-informed has been unable to hit the mark and join the ranks of other great horror theatre. It is also disappointing that even with such a strong leading duo, such a feeble show is the result. Unless you are a serious paranormal fan, it is definitely one to miss.

THE ENFIELD HAUNTING at the Ambassadors Theatre

Reviewed on 10th January 2024

by Flora Doble

Photography by Marc Brenner

Previously reviewed at this venue:

ROSE | ★★★★ | May 2023

MAD HOUSE | ★★★★★ | June 2022

COCK | ★★★ | March 2022

THE ENFIELD HAUNTING

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★★★★

“a richly entertaining piece of theatre driven by starry performances”

“Nobody minded bad behaviour as long as the public didn’t get to hear about it” Louis B. Mayer once told his young star, Mickey Rooney. Since the birth of Hollywood this has been a truism, sustaining the myth of the movie mogul as profane, vulgar, cruel, rapacious and philandering. The only real change these days is that the public does get to hear about it more and more. There is currently one name that everybody will no doubt associate with Barney Fein, the sleaze-ball producer masterfully played by John Malkovitch in David Mamet’s “Bitter Wheat”. But Mamet’s writing points the finger at a longer line of tycoons to produce an amalgam which adds more dimensions to the character. Malkovitch seizes this opportunity to add humour and human traces. But never sympathy.

Nobody escapes the machine-gun fire of Fein’s vitriol that turns to lasciviousness when he meets young actress, Yung Kim Li, to discuss her new film. He promises stardom, and we all know in return for what, especially as he has just had a high dose of a libido-enhancing drug that is just kicking in. Ioanna Kimbook catches on just as quickly with an impressive portrayal of the ingénue’s growing discomfort. It’s in this scene that Mamet’s wit really shines through, with faux-pas in abundance that soon take a darker turn when the inevitable career defining threat arrives.

Sadly, neither character comes out of this well. Nor does the second act which seems to be racing towards its rather farcical conclusion. Naturally, when the police are brought in Fein’s life falls apart. But the actress’ career is destroyed too, before it has started. Fein’s long-suffering secretary is also out of a job. Doon Mackichan downplays the contempt she feels for Fein perfectly – pitching it just right: high enough to be recognised but low enough to avoid the counterattack.

The subplots and sub characters that are tagged onto this central story seem unnecessary. An illegal immigrant who assassinates Fein’s terminally ill mother serves little purpose. The opening scene of the play, on the other hand, in which Fein refuses to pay a screenwriter his due fee is underexplored and unceremoniously discarded. It is in these moments that we are given a stronger insight into the psyche of the extraordinary character that is Barney Fein; and into the machinations of Hollywood. There is a quirkiness to the dialogue that is unmatched by the predictability of the sexual assault headlines.

Overall though, this is a richly entertaining piece of theatre driven by starry performances. Mamet manages to display his usual, exhilarating and unique flair with words, tackling an uncomfortable subject. If anything, however, the humour makes it all a bit too comfortable and doesn’t necessarily advance the issues it is addressing. In this case truth is stranger than fiction.

Reviewed by Jonathan Evans

Photography by Manuel Harlan

Tag Archives: Neil Austin

THE ENFIELD HAUNTING

★½

Ambassadors Theatre

THE ENFIELD HAUNTING at the Ambassadors Theatre

★½

“Unfortunately, The Enfield Haunting is a very bad play”

“the tension is completely lacking”