What would you do if your dinner party had an uninvited guest – a guest who died two hundred years ago and had chosen this night to unleash hell? What if you tried to escape but discovered the house would not let you leave?
That is the horror let loose on Mark and his wife Kate, who thought they had bought their dream cottage, and their friends Bill and Louise who arrive to celebrate Mark’s birthday and instead find themselves in a battle for survival against an unspeakable evil, and a struggle to help free a lost soul.
As the tale unfolded in the style of such terrifying classics as The Woman in Black and Turn of the Screw, we experienced shock upon shock, and were chilled to the bone, and witnessed a violent end to a story that started with a birthday celebration and finished with a scene of horror bathed in blood.
These were the words used by the Boxford Drama Group to describe their latest production and how true they were. It was not more than a few minutes into the play that I involuntarily rose from my seat in fear and my wife spilt her wine. The tension was maintained throughout the play with amazing lighting and sound effects.
On Friday the 13th it was a sell out audience. Haunted, was written by Michael Munn and directed and produced by Jane Lindekam, a brilliant script and superb production.
The great cast had the author in the role of Bill, one of the guests with Alison Barlow as his wife, Louise. The hosts, Kate and Mark played by Elaine and Will Carpenter had no problem playing husband and wife in all their moods! And Emily Barlow made a scary Mary the Ghost. I do not normally pick out what I consider to have been an outstanding performance but on this occasion I believe that Elaine Carpenter warrants a special mention, her performance was outstanding which is to be expected from one of the BDG’s most loyal members. One of the best from the B.D.G.
