Ghost Light

First, this show started nearly 30 minutes late - I understand that there was a show in the space before them, but holding the house for a full half an hour is a long time. The acting was the best it could be considering the material. The actors did what they could with a cliche script, and I was honestly embarrassed for them at times. This show was all about cheap scare tricks. Loud bangs, flickering lights, thunder sound effects, girls screaming, and putting the audience into complete darkness. Some of which was mildly startling, none of which was at all scary or even interesting. The plot was thin, and the backstory of one character was far more engaging than the story being told on stage. In fact, that backstory probably would ha... full review

This is a fun little experiment in moving the schlocky horror film genre into a live theater setting, and it works well. Lots of cheap little tricks and effects that make the audience jump, even if you know they're coming. If you're looking for Deep Meaning and Profound Emotional Truth, look elsewhere. But if you're a fan of B-horror movies, or like to see how theater can be expanded beyond actors performing on stage, then this show is for you!... full review

You know what? I LOVED THIS SHOW. Sure, it starts off with some typical tropes from the horror genre: the hot, bitchy sorority girl; the clueless boyfriend who seems to be ASKING for it; the know-it-all instigator who may end up getting what he deserves; and the unpopular girl trying to fit in. Throw them all into a "haunted" location and you get the same movie your mom forbade you to watch that you saw over and over again anyway. But the script AND the cast find new dimensions to these cliches to make the story original. Using the dim and often unreliable illumination of the fabled "ghostlight" of theater tradition and the supernatural reason for its existence is a stroke of brilliance, and playwrite Dan Spurgeon uses this play on ... full review

I'd leave more of a review here, but the two reviewers before me pretty much said everything I wanted to say. I do give them props for effectively using well-planned and choreographed lighting gags to create scares, but that's about it. ... full review

One of my pet peeves at Fringe is shows that don't start on time. Many of us are trying to get in as many shows and events as possible and when one starts late, it can through off your entire plan. This one started 30 minutes late, granted it was a late night and there probably weren't many people heading to other places afterwards, but shows need to start on time. The four actors did the best they could with the material they were given. The characters were four very stereotypical college students (sorority girl, jock, theater guy and nerdy girl). The show uses cheap tricks, banging on walls and flashing lights in an attempt to scare the audience. Run time was around 35 minutes, which at the $12.00 ticket price seems a bit ste... full review

Okay, so you're not going to see anything particularly original or groundbreaking here. But it doesn't seem that that's what the "Ghost Light" folks are after. They're after cheap laughs and cheap scares - and they get them. We meet a typical cast of B horror movie types and watch them run into typical B horror movie spookiness all while spouting a typical amount of B horror cliches and jokes. But you know what? That's basically what I was expecting and that's essentially what I got. So if I'm sold the product that I expect, I'm a pretty happy camper. We don't watch B horror movies to have our minds blown by their depth and insight. We go to laugh and we go to roll our eyes at the characters' collective stupidity and we go... full review

Really enjoyed myself. Girlfriend bought tickets to the show so I didn't know what I was getting myself into... Seeing a "horror play" with no pretense or expectation is the way to go. The script was straight out of a cheesy 80's movie. You've paid more to see worse writing on the silver screen - get over it and you're in for a treat. The cast and director win big with a plot that revolves around a haunted theatre. Hey! We're seeing a play in a theatre, right? Wonder if it's the same theatre GHOST LIGHT happened in... Without a camera to direct the audience's attention, the cast relies HEAVILY on creative lighting techniques. It works! Lightning strikes, flickering lights, and spastic blackouts play well into the hands of the acto... full review

This is fun stuff, using effective methods to deliver it's frights. Too short by far, I wish they had done a longer version of the story and fleshed out the ending. Enjoy the campfire-story vibe and the thrills such simplicity allow. The horror/80's feel embraced by this production seems easy to dismiss... but, it's a subgenre that influences the course of horror in media and literature to this day. Seeing a company embrace it and try to create an atmosphere live that is normally achieved through editing and sound effects in film... it's a ride worth taking. ... full review