Lost and tormented by ghosts of the past and present. Daniel Sierra or is it Nigel (Tom Chambers) crashes his car on New Year’s Eve in the middle of nowhere during a horrendous snowstorm in Murder in the Dark.

Mrs. Bateman (Susie Blake) appears to be a local farmer helping out the distraught travellers who have crashed into a wall. However, as with all good horror genre productions, nothing is ever that clear-cut. Blake’s sinister undercurrents leave you wondering what will happen next.

Laura White’s performance doubles as Sierra’s girlfriend and the troubled ballerina spirit living around the house. Her clockwork-style movements add a ghostly fear to the stage as she begins to make her intentions clear. The audience never knows where she will appear next, you are warned.

Links all become connected in the second act and the story entwines deeper which in turn brings more haunting secrets to the surface and questions the travellers’ reality of their situation.

The strong performances all around have the audience sitting on the edge of their seats at times. With serious misdemeanours brought to the surface, it brings into question “What price should we pay for our mistakes?”.

Lighting designer Paul Pyant sets the ghostly scene right from the beginning. Lighted and shadowed areas are all perfectly placed. Each time the fuses blow it catches the audience off guard and you could easily believe these were taking place.

For more information about this play and future productions at Salisbury Playhouse please use the links below.

Four Stars.

Photo credit Pamela Raith

https://www.wiltshirecreative.co.uk/events/murder-in-the-dark

https://www.atgtickets.com/shows/murder-in-the-dark/

Cast

Tom Chambers- Danny

Susie Blake- Mrs Bateman

Rebecca Charles- Rebecca

Jonny Green- Jake

Owen Oakeshott- William

Laura White- Sarah