There is a slow-burn buildup of creepiness in this haunted house story which uses Jewish demonology and mysticism to explore outsider women and antisemitic terror. Longlisted for the Women’s prize for playwriting in 2021, Rachel Bellman’s drama takes place inside a shabby cottage with a central window looking on to pitch black night. Troubled teen Leah (Olivia Marcus, excellently stroppy) is holed up here in the woods in a home belonging to her eccentric aunt Mirah (Ann Marcuson).
Mirah is tarred as something of a witch by her middle England neighbours and becomes the target of antisemitic hostility from one shadowy figure outside her window. But she is also seen as a renegade within the Jewish community for her unorthodox interpretations of the faith.
Leah feels things going bump in the night and becomes convinced the house is haunted. Her older, more “perfect” sister, Danielle (Liv Andrusier, convincingly uptight), who has come to take her home, is dismissive of Leah’s claims that Talmudic demons known as mazzikim have taken possession of it.
Under the direction of Jasmine Teo, arguments between the sisters are combined well with flashbacks. The unease grows as they bristle and fight about their place in the family, their absent mother, and the burdens as well as comforts of the Jewish community to which they belong. Fractious sisterhood is an underlying theme but so is rebellious or unconventional womanhood: beneath the talk of demons and exorcisms is a history of misogyny and othering. The mazzikim, we are told, can be interpreted as demons or metaphors for fear and anger.
Darkly funny at times, psychological at others, Bellman’s script is filled with originality although its discussions sometimes feel too much like lessons. Sophie Firth’s set design has lots of dark nooks and Skylar Turnbull Hurd’s lighting design is creepy without resorting to melodrama, while the action takes us, cleverly, inside and outside the cottage.
Despite the growing unease, the terror never amounts to quite enough and the sisters’ relationship is tied up a little too neatly. But there is clear promise and talent here, in the writing and the performances.
At Theatre 503, London, until 14 October
