HUMPTY'S BONES

Review

Written by Sean Mason

Directed by Peter M George

The Seven Oaks pub, Manchester

Until Wed 4th Nov

Reviewed on 28.10.15

Humpty’s Bones is the latest production from the always intriguing, always entertaining, and always adventurous Sytheplays Ltd. Local legend Sean Mason has adapted Simon Clark’s creepy short story for the stage, and the relatively small upstairs room at the Seven Oaks pub is the perfect venue to frighten the collective pants off any punter venturing there on a misty Autumnal evening. Claustrophobic, wood-panelled, ancient-looking décor, and a truly foreboding atmosphere. Perfect for a Halloween treat. It’s a very Nigel Kneale-esque story of inquisitive folk messing around with ancient and still-bearing-a-grudge supernatural entities. On this occasion, a grave is disturbed in a back garden, and a collection of bones are being examined by a dim-witted amateur archaeologist, Heather Laird (played by an impish Lauron Stirrup). The skeleton’s head is missing, and things just don’t add up. Enter our young heroine, the wonderfully-monikered Eden Page (a delightful Catryn Philbin) to stir things up, annoy the locals, and provide some much-needed distraction for Heather’s cranky, sexually frustrated, and boorish husband Curtis (Andrew Marsden). There’s a League Of Gentlemen aspect to this gruesome little piece, and, at one point, I half expected Pat Brocklehurst’s mad old bat Ada Hezzle to be unmasked as Steve Pemberton in drag. The old hag’s cryptic warnings and crazed mutterings fail to deter our lovely Eden from getting involved with stuff she shouldn’t get involved with, and so events spiral towards an eruption of murder, ghoulish activities, and eventual blood-chilling horror. Marsden’s Curtis is a frightening creation, like a psycho scarecrow lashing out at all and sundry, desperate for the touch of a good woman (or any woman, really), and batshit crazy enough to ignore the werewolf-like creature literally at his front door, preferring instead to focus his narrow-sighted attentions on the less than impressed Eden. Full marks to Greg Hulme’s moody and unsettling music, and Peter M George’s full-bloodied direction and sound design (with Sytheplay’s Daniel Thackeray). Be warned – don’t mess with the dead, ‘cos dem bones is gonna walk around. Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones!