Lauren Crisp is a book editor, writer and keen follower of arts and culture. Born and raised in Harrogate, Lauren recently moved back to North Yorkshire after a stint in London, where she regularly reviewed theatre – everything from big West End shows to small fringe productions. She is now eager to explore the culture on offer in and around her home town.  You can contact Lauren on laurencrispwriter@gmail.com 

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It’s New Year’s Eve; a storm rages and there is a car crash on a country road. An eccentric old lady comes to the aid of the driver and his family, inviting them to stay overnight in a creaky, isolated holiday cottage on her farm. There’s no telephone, no Wi-Fi and no indoor toilet… but there are plenty of bumps in the night.

As synopses go, Murder in the Dark sounded right up my street; in the event, this production, currently at the wonderful and welcoming York Theatre Royal, left me cold.

The play appears to want to be a kind of modern-horror-film interpretation of an Agatha Christie-esque closed-circle mystery. Consistent references to the nursery rhyme Three Blind Mice are completely overplayed in an apparent attempt to link to Christie’s classic, The Mousetrap. But The Mousetrap this is not.

The approach to genre is a confused concoction of horror, mystery, melodrama and comedy, but most disappointingly, the writing and characterisations are lacklustre and clichéd. A family in tatters: an alcoholic, Z-list celebrity has-been father, with a rather-too-young girlfriend, a son who doesn’t talk to him, an estranged brother, and an ex-wife who refuses to take him back. We’ve seen it all before.

The ray of light in a cast of actors who have, to be fair to them, been given wholly superficial characters to perform, is Susie Blake, as the mysterious and rather mischievous old Mrs Bateman. Her role gathers purpose and momentum as the production progresses, and it is a relief when she enters on stage to remove us from the predictability that one could otherwise have suffered through watching any low-budget horror flick.

Also a relief were the occasional and affecting ghostly apparitions, providing enjoyable breaks in the action, assisted by effective sound and lighting. The final twist showed initial promise, but an ultimately chaotic denouement denied the audience any neat or satisfying sort of conclusion. Yes, there is murder and there is darkness, but this play won’t be keeping me up at night.

Murder in the Dark is on at the York Theatre Royal until Saturday 23 September.

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