"Ghostly thrills and imaginative storytelling": Review of When Darkness Falls at Blackpool Grand Theatre

After a dry start this two-man play jolted to life and revealed a show packed with thrills, chills, and imaginative storytelling that soon had the audience captivated.

Forget flashy Hollywood effects and buckets of gore, this was stripped back to the essence of what makes a good horror, steeped in atmosphere and with a plot that gets right under the skin.

The curtains opened to reveal a chaotic workspace piled high with papers and books, and a grubby kitchen. John Blondel, played by former Blue Peter presenter, Peter Duncan, was a ball of nervous energy consumed by his research.

He was soon joined by The Speaker, played by Daniel Rainford - a young paranormal investigator who arriveed soaking wet and catching his breath from the storms outside the office. They set out to record a podcast, but as the weather got worse they hunkered down for a long night.

The Speaker told four eerie tales, all based on paranormal legends from the Channel Islands.

They included abandoned houses, ghoulish black dogs, witch hunts and the ghosts of German occupying forces.

I began to wonder how basic storytelling would hold our attention… then with an alarming thunderclap the story jolted to life.

When Blondel accidentally played a recording of a young boy who can see spirits, spooky things started to happen. The lights went out, shelves fell down, weird noises occured.

Suddenly the play rattleed along with low key special effects and horrifying visions that had us on the edge of our seats.

With a fiery orange glow and subtle sound of burning embers, Duncan depicted a WW2 soldier being burned alive in a tunnel - whose spirit is now thought to roam the hospital above.

And the play ended with a shocking twist. When Darkness Falls is an intelligent drama that provokes questions about mental health and the human psyche. Are ghosts a figment of the tormented mind? Grief or guilt trapped deep within the psyche?And it’s the perfect dark atmospheric escapism for dreary autumn nights.

For more dates go to https://www.whendarknessfalls.co.uk/