Returning for a third year, The Witching Hour opens the Days of the Dead festival at Frigid New York with five short plays.
Offering bite-size helpings of horror interspersed by humorous asides and audience participation, the hour aims to “strike fear into your hearts, and maybe a bit of laughter into your souls.”
Performed in a room so packed it is standing room only, The Witching Hour offers a quintet of theatre that is sometimes spooky, sometimes silly.
First up in the programme is When Death Came To Dinner by and starring Laurel Mora. It’s a monologue dripping in poetry and horror, a tale of the grim reaper stopping off for a bite to eat. Mora offers a work inspired by their Mexican heritage and the world of fantasy.
A Haunting of 48th Street is a three-hander written by Gwyn McAllister and directed by Victoria Narayan, is a story of ghostly apparitions that is both bright and daft. Actors S Quincy Beard, Michael Kowalski and Alex Wade keep the pace light in this chilling tale.
Kento Morita’s Bridge Crossings feels purely comedic, involving the audience in his silly routine of words and numbers. But getting them to spell out Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious will never get old.
Varda by Nicole LeBlanc is about witchery, sorcery, and whispers. Directed by Maggie Dunn, this is perhaps the most focused and serious of the pieces. The five actors, Ava Resco, Katerina Pappas, Sara Moinuddin, Sabira Moktar and Janet Snow convey a lot in their movement, suggesting fear, power and sisterhood while suggesting the supernatural.
Finally, Brothers of the Box by Nick Luis, directed by Sabrina Zara, features Danny Gomez, Melissa Denize, Aiden Martinez, Dante Jayce and Mat Garcia. It opens with an invocation while standard creepy horror sounds flood the stage. Three brothers use magic to raise a demon but is it possible to reverse matters once the box is open?
I can see why this is a popular night for live crowds. I’m giving this one three stars for the programme as a whole.
The Witching Hour was part of Frigid New York’s Days of the Dead festival.
Note: an earlier version of this review contained an incorrect credit for A Haunting on 48th St.