How well does horror play out on stage rather than in the more familiar medium of film? Inspired by the inconclusive investigations into the “Enfield poltergeist” in north London, which led the press to a frenzy in 1977, this drama’s mysteries may seem too well known for those who have seen the recent Apple TV documentary and the Sky series with Timothy Spall. Paul Unwin’s paranormal story is quite distinct from spectral dramas such as 2:22: A Ghost Story or The Woman in Black: it is about apparently possessed children, flying furniture and disembodied voices.
The play does not set out to scare us witless but to make us think about the nature of fear and the dynamics of a household in which a single mother, Peggy (Catherine Tate), is hiding from a violent, alcoholic husband, and whose home is overtaken by pushy male interlopers posing as protectors. Her daughters might be pranking the psychic society experts by putting on a show of being possessed, or there may be a nefarious supernatural presence here.
