Credit: Helen Maybanks
The House on Cold Hill is a successful follow up to three stage adaptations of popular thriller novels by the author Peter James. The House on Cold Hill is a ghost story in the classic mould, but with a modern twist. It is set in an isolated house in the countryside outside of Brighton, the initial scene showing a new owner arriving at the house and inspecting his new purchase. Even before he can invite his family in, he becomes a victim of the haunted house and written into its history.
Fast forward to the modern day and another owner steps across the threshold and spooky occurrences start to leave an impression. Ollie (Joe McFadden), his wife Caro (Rita Simons) and daughter Jade (Persephone Swales Dawson) are trying to settle into their new home with the help of IT geek Chris (Charlie Clements) and builder Phil (Leon Stewart). Ollie realises that he is in deep as his building costs for the renovation start to mount, little does he realise what else the house has in store. Soon Jade thinks she has seen an apparition, and her friends can see an old lady appearing behind her on her mobile phone. Ollie gets an early birthday present in a smart speaker, which quickly becomes the centre of the action and is used cleverly to carry the ghostly messages. If ghosts have the power to contact use through spirit mediums, and be detected by electromagnetic probes, then why couldn’t they talk to us via our gadgets?
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The stage set is a fabulously spooky country house, with dark corners and internal windows that loom over the central living room. The atmosphere is tweaked subtly by dropping the lighting or back lighting certain windows or corners of the set. Even though most of the thrills come via classic ghost play instruments, the way that modern technology is used in a ghost story makes the chills more real and brings a classic genre into the 21st century. The smart speaker even adds a welcome comedic lift to the show, not usually associated with a thriller.
The stage play keeps you on edge throughout, making it very difficult to relax. Even when you think things are starting to go smoothly something else happens and you are back on edge again. The roller-coaster of emotion builds towards a gripping conclusion, perhaps pre-empted by the first unexpected message from the smart speaker. This play is one that will definitely get a hold of you.
The House on Cold Hill is running at the New Victoria Theatre in Woking until 27th April before continuing on its nationwide tour.
