Paranormal Activity 

5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 

Written by Levi Holloway. 

Directed by Felix Barrett.

The auditorium goes to complete black-out, even the green emergency exit signs are off  we hear a voice telling us that hauntings are connected to the person not the house. 

American couple James and Lou have moved from the states to London, him for work. And her as we find out via a facetime conversation with his mother  was having “episodes” and required anti-depressant pills. A move was what she needed to get her head straight. 

Lou early on see’s signs of a haunting the spirit she was escaping has came with her. James, who doesn’t believe tries to explain it all away,  the new house and on the electricity and plumbing. 

So starts one of the most terrifying pieces of stage horror I have seen.

Magic Circle master Chris Fisher uses illusions on stage to create the haunting. In the first act there is a mind-blowing effect that shocked the audience so much it got its own round of applause. 

James Bye as James and Hannah Sinclair Robertson work well together carrying the plot, in the first half, they are a happy mid 30’s couple, enjoying the quirky British way of doing things. 

Even though James feels the paranormal is unreal he humours Lou, buying her a bell that will ring should either of them die. Famously this was an experiment carried out by Arthur Conan Doyle’s widow in the Royal Albert Hall after his death – of course the bell was silent on that occasion. 

The script is really well built it has lots of mundane chatter and life living. With the constant dread of the haunting about to happen. 

It almost feels Hitchcockian in it’s set up we see the bomb and wait 15mins for the explosion.In The Birds after the famous attack on the school children the birds assembling on the climbing frame, the next scene was a long speech by an old woman who talks about birds not having the mentality to hunt in packs.  

The script for this play has the same high levels of action and James trying to explain it all away with logic. 

Fly Davis has designed a dolls house style set that sits on the stage in two levels, this allows lighting designer Anna Watson the chance to light every corner with masterful light and darkness, when the rooms upstairs are in total darkness you can’t help but keep your eye on them. Looking for any movement that may indicate the haunting is coming. 

There are plenty of jump scares too, loud telephone ringing, doors slamming and appearances and disappearances of the entity to have the audience in terror, I did scream at least twice during it. 

There is a séance scene that will scare the pants off you, it closes Act one . 

In Act two James and Lou are far more dishevelled he is trying to understand who or what the entity is and Lou is obviously breaking down with the pressure. 

They decide to confess their sins to each other , will this help rid the spirit, well that would be telling.  

This is pure explosive horror, so in terms of script dont look to closely at it as there are plot holes. However it’s not a night out for story, it’s a night out to make you scream – and you do. 

There are lots of extreme black outs which get covered by loud rock music, they do take some time, I guess to allow setting up of illusions, these could affect the flow of the play, however I found them very unsettling, trying to see anything at all plays with the mind. 

If you are looking for a horror play with more of a Nigel Kneal folk like tale that haunts you for days after, something like Scatter by Patrick McPherson, first seen at the Fringe 2025 will do this 

However, if you are looking for a Hollywood explosive fright fest brought to the stage. Shocks and terrifies when it’s happening. Paranormal Activity is a play you can’t miss.