The below is what Harrogate Theatre had to say about H. P. Lovecraft’s “At The Mountains Of Madness” by Icarus Theatre . Me and the good lady wife went along to it as a way of celebrating our fifth wedding anniversary. Five years of happiness. I write about the joy of married life all over my blog, so this post will be a review of the Theatre performance that we witnessed last night.
Desperate. Incensed. Exhausted. William Dyer returns from a cursed expedition to the Antarctic. To protect our world, he keeps deep secrets that he knows the speaking of can only shatter his fragile mind. But as he comes to the realisation that we, the audience, are planning to go further into the penetrating cold than he dared, will his secrets unfold? Will he finally be resigned to speak? Will he share the truth, and give us a terrifying glimpses of – the horror of things that should not be?
They even did a video to drum up the capacity crowd that flocked to the Studio Theatre on the night of the 24th to see Icarus Theatre’s production of H. P. Lovecraft’s “At The Mountains Of Madness”.
The studio theatre was full to capacity and I was clueless as to what to expect. I am no theatre regular – I have never pretended to be. So, what was I doing at the theatre? I was marking an event by treating my wife and me. The theatre is a treat – and one I wish to indulge in more often after the wonders of last night.
What happened in the performance? Well, I was clueless as to what to expect. On a base level it was one man having a conversation with his radio – on another level it was a masterclass in acting with a thespian who held his audience in the palm of his hand as he conducted a one man play.
RSC actor and RADA faculty Tim Hardy was the sole performer on the night – accompanied by atmospheric lighting and audio props that made for a very atmospheric performance. A performance that will stay with me for a while. The images created were of bleak, compounded fear and an unknowable evil – The delivery of the performance really was first class – the theme of insanity was fleshed out as a group of Antarctic explorers faced an unknowable foe.
As stated, I am no theatre buff – I treat the theatre as a treat. And we were treated.
We were treated to a show that was true to the H. P. Lovecraft original and made the hair stand up on the back of my neck. I experienced frisson during last night.
Roll on January for the next Lovecraft instalment at Harrogate Theatre.
Reply