An absolutely terrifying show that’ll get your heart rate up
stories that were told tonight were ones not for the faint hearted. An unraveling of fear in real time kept us as the audience very occupied, trying to figure out piece by piece what was going to happen next.
Even More Ghost Stories By Candlelight co-produced by Pentabus and Hightide, written by Florence Espeut-Nickless, Simon Longman, Anne Odeke and Rosa Torr and directed by Elle While brought modernised Victorian ghost stories to life. Completing three productions of this well made show, we see four stories, gruesome, horrific and paranormal.
The elements glued well together in this production, nothing left detached. An old urban dank space decaying was the space. Mushrooms growing on the rocks and walls, mold seeping in the building, the stage was efficient and managed to cover and compensate for each story.
Throughout the performance the lighting made me jump madly, red eyes appearing, biblical shining white lights. Bleeding sound coming into the space frightened the whole audience each and every time it was used. The dialogues developed well, going from attempting to convince us about something paranormal, to then diving deep into what was happening, feeling, sensations, physically too.
The pace was fast yet easy to follow. After each short story ended, there was perhaps a fifteen second gap to breath after holding my breath for each and every story. But apart from that, there was nowhere to escape these tales.
Both actors gave a convincing performance throughout. Having the ability to swap between voices and roles, without overwhelming or over complicating matters. Keaton Guimarães-Tolley gave a specific and hilarious showing of multiple characters, all characters portrayed by Guimarães-Tolley had a clownish side to them, making me feel bad for when something bad happened. Sarita Gabony was brilliantly quick switching thoughts and feelings from one character to another.
The dramaturgical choices were well executed. The forms of storytelling between each story changed every so slightly, keeping me on the edge of my seat, excited for the next one.
Something that I am still thinking about now is the motif of the white horse, a prompt that continuously popped up in each story, changing purpose and scale but always keeping some sort of resemblance. By the end of the performance, a tiny white horse figure had made its way to the stage, faintly projecting white light. Now this small figurine had so much thought behind it, I felt convinced by what I had seen. I believe what was witnessed was genuinely disturbing.
Overall, this show was fantastically frightening, bold and captivating, I believe it to be a must see and fitting for this time of year.
This show runs at the Bristol Old Vic theatre from the 21st of October until the 25th of October. It then continues touring until the 8th of November 2025.