This was a brilliant idea - interactive theatre, breaking down the boundaries between performers and audience - but, sadly, it was thrown away by sheer incompetence.
The audience is ushered into a darkened space and introduced to a team conducting an experiment into parapsychology. We are told that the house we are in has a history of sudden death and hauntings, and introduced to a young, troubled woman, Eleanor, who has been present when much of the poltergeist activity has taken place and who, it emerges, has a close connection with the house.
A cross between a ghost story and one of those tests to see how far a subject will go when inflicting pain on another, Hill House fails as theatre and as a psychological exercise because the actors simply aren't good enough. If you can't deliver the lines convincingly, how can you expect the audience to believe what is going on, participate and influence the outcome for good or ill?
The show relied almost entirely on audience plants. It's a pity, because this could have been thrilling theatre and also a chilling insight into audience manipulation and human nature.
· Until August 29. Box office: 0870 745 3083.
