#the Enfield haunting

[pinbitch]

catherine tate looks so good in this preview pic for the enfield haunting i have literally no interest in this play but 👀

[hideandsqueek]

So over winter break, I spent almost a month in England, much of that in London. I’ve been before so I spent a lot of time doing off the beaten path things and lallygagging in art museums I never had time for before. But I really went for theatre. I saw four different productions and all were wonderful. But almost totally unintentionally, I collected 4 different fave Doctor Who actors in the same go? Not even at a convention or anything? So I figured I should put it down here for posterity. (My face obscured because reasons. If you know me, you’ve seen these!)

I saw The Enfield Haunting and Catherine Tate was amazing in it. Third play I’ve seen her do and definitely the weirdest. But she was the sweetest afterwards. This was literally 2 days after the last 60th special aired and she accidentally spoiled someone and then felt really bad. Signed stuff and chatted as long as we wanted. I love her so much.

Then I saw this play. Which you know is why I went across the ocean. And no that’s not my picture obvs. No stage door signings at the Donmar. But look how fucking beautiful they are. JFC this play wrecked me in the best way. Maybe forever. And really I was very close to himself so it counts.

And not a play (tho I’ve seen her Yerma and also JFC), just a happy coincidence. I follow Billie Piper on insta and she posted about the Choose Love charity pop up where she’d be manning the tills. I was in the neighborhood so I bought some stuff for refugees from her and got this adorable picture. Can’t wait to see her again in a few days at Gallifrey One. 💙💙

And because it was around Christmas and because I was there and by this point I couldn’t actually NOT, I also went to see Christopher Eccleston in A Christmas Carol (which was so much better than I was expecting!). And though it was a very large theatre and it was fully packed, only a few folk went to the stage door. He was very nice and signed my program and paused for a terrible picture of both of us (it was very dark outside, my phone had trouble).

And there you have it. Maybe I’ll do another post with the non-theatre-related things I did in London. But I think like one personal post a decade is probably my limit. 😂

And okay here’s a bonus picture from the year before where the one dude I really like to see do plays did come out at the stage door.

[paradox-n-bedrock]

Hey! I saw throughout some of your tags that you got to see both Macbeth and The Enfield Haunting! (to which I'm insanely jealous, please hand over your memories to me at your earliest convenience!) What did you think of them??

Oh hi!!

The Enfield Haunting was enjoyable. Reviews for it have been overly harsh, for the most part, and I think part of that might be the genre bias horror often faces. The dialogue is clunky, particularly in the beginning, but I can say it's a fun show if you're a Conjuring, Enfield Poltergeist, or general haunted history fan. It presents the supernatural influence vs troubled children aspect in a balanced way, as is necessary for this plot. It also builds tension rather effectively once it gets going, while letting Catherine punctuate it with moments of lightness and her usual impeccable timing. There are some really good parts where a theme seemed to come together of this overwhelmed woman dealing with a rotating cycle of overbearing men (invasive investigators, infatuated neighbor, disrespectful ex-husband, and the poltergeist, of course) making nuisances of themselves in her home while she's just trying to push through each day without losing herself or her children to their collective unhappiness. If the theme had carried through more cohesively, it would have been a strong play. Unfortunately, I was left yearning for a bit more of that story, as it gets messy and lost maybe two thirds of the way though when the focus shifts to the investigator. But mainly, Catherine is so, so talented. She carries the whole thing on her back, with some help from the young actress who plays a very creepy Janet. It's hard to take your eyes off of her as Peggy, even when she's harried and anxious or reacting in furious silence to the action happening on the other side of the stage. She just... draws your gaze. And when she steels her spine to stand up for her family and her space, she's positively luminous. Plus there's an unexpected delight in a couple of scenes where Catherine sings Only Wanna Be With You--very sweetly, just a bar or two--and my heart felt like it was going to fucking burst. Hello, her voice... I need her to do another musical, preferably one we get a soundtrack to.

And she's so kind at the stage door. It was a two show day and she had a con the next morning but she still took the time to speak to every single person that was waiting there.

__

Macbeth, I wasn't carrying even the slightest hope of seeing but then I was able to get a standing ticket in my cart while on the flight there (though I had to let it go) and realized my years of stalking concert presales were about to come in handy. Ironically, my partner was the one who did snag the tickets two days later. I... actually ended up with a first row seat, though she was in the standing section. But that's just me rambling about the process because I still can't believe it worked out the way it did.

I'm not even sure what to say about the show itself. The whole cast is phenomenal. The production is conceptually very cool. The audio tricks they play with the witches--via a headset for each audience member and the eerie sense of movement and foreboding conveyed by bilateral audio--plus the starkness of the empty white stage and simple dark costuming just work. The contrast of the blood when David is centerstage, distressed and panting as he washes it away, feels poignant rather than pretentious. He's captivating the whole way through, but especially then, when he temporarily strips away the ambition along with his stained clothes to reveal the broken and guilty thing underneath. There's nothing like how DT delivers Shakespeare--the meaning flows out of him as naturally as the words themselves and it's incredibly approachable without losing any of its gravitas. The dynamic between the leads is atypical in a really lovely way. David's Macbeth and Cush's Lady Macbeth come across more like codependent partners and ruthless accomplices than a greedy but hesitant royal and his calculating wife egging him on. He looks to her for support rather than a push to kill Duncan, and the adoration between them is palpable, even as they each deteriorate in their own ways. I walked out of this show feeling so deeply affected, it was like a religious experience.

(Macbeth also feels very gender, which shouldn't be a surprise to anyone who's a fan of DT's Benedict, though this is obviously in a very different way. As does Malcolm, played by Ros Watt--who's non-binary--and Ross, played by Moyo Akandé. I adore the whole cast, honestly.)

[batnbreakfast]

For everyone, who’d like to see Catherine Tate in something sinister:

The Hodgsons had no idea what a poltergeist was when, in the summer of 1977, furniture and toys started moving of their own accord. An ordinary, working-class family, who lived in a north London council house became the centre of one of the most famous poltergeist events in the world. This is the story of one night in the spring of 1978 when events were approaching a climax.

Based on the first-hand accounts of one of the ghost hunters, The Enfield Haunting is the true story of what happened when a dedicated single mother, tries to protect her three children from something that is incomprehensible, deeply disturbing and is hurtling to a terrifying conclusion.

There’s a sale on at londontheatre.co.uk right now.

[alittletoosmarttobestraight]

The Enfield Haunting - 17/02/2024

[denimbex1986]

I'm INSANELY excited to see Macbeth (yes, the DT one!), but also very much looking forward to The Enfield Haunting and Choir of Man next month!

genuinely, i think watching live theatre can improve your media literacy so much

like people who look at doctor who and are like 'lol the effects are so rubbish'

maybe watch a stage play where there's no backdrops and half the characters are played by the same three guys in different hats and maybe you will calm down

[hororia]

The Conjuring 2 (2016)

🐈‍⬛🐈‍⬛🐈‍⬛🐈‍⬛

Just rewatched it on Netflix, and I love it, even better than the first Conjuring. James Wan is quite good at recreating this true story with ( nearly ) perfection as it is really entertaining!

All the settings are made almost similar to the documentation that has been published. The ambience of London is always super gloomy (and even seemingly humid), combined with the problematic condition of the Hodgson family (broken home and impoverished)-already put a damper on the family's situation. The presence of a haunted entity in their home also worsens their family's condition. Interestingly, due to their difficult financial situation, the Hodgson family chose to stay in their home despite the paranormal disturbances.

The struggles of the Hodgson family in this film are real and painful. But Wan still manages to squeeze in a bit of comedy amidst the growing darkness of Enfield's paranormal activity. Wan even managed to include a romantic drama in it - where Ed and Lorraine struggle to fight for each other's lives.

My review could be bias since I was already invested on this Enfield poltergeist story before. Anyway, this is a very good Conjuring sequel, and I am entertained.

[willstafford]

Unwelcome Geist

THE ENFIELD HAUNTING Ambassadors Theatre, London, Thursday 8th February 2024 Inspired by the notorious real-life events that supposedly took place in an Enfield council house in the 1970s, this new play by Paul Unwin has had something of a mixed reception, by all accounts.  If you go in expecting a Woman in Black to show up at 2:22, you’re going to be sorely disappointed. The action plays out…

[kaitlinj16]

"Janet, are you feeling all right?" -Kent Allen, The Conjuring 2

🖤❤🖤

[djohnhopper]

WATCHED: The Enfield Haunting (2015). Just watched the mini-series. Disturbing and uncomfortable, but in ways that seem both ordinary and supernatural. The dead and the living share an involved sense of loss, disorientation, anger, grief, bitterness and more.

[show-stoppin-enby]

Went to Camden Market first thing. I got a really comfy scarf from a stall right where they filmed the 60th anniversary of Doctor Who!!

(The scarf stall is just to the right)

Other reasons I got the scarf:

- red and black (currently obsessed with Les Mis. Saw it yesterday and was Enjolras in our school production of it

- it’s extremely comfortable

- it has what look like nightingales on it??? And we all know about No Nightingales

Our drama teacher thought that The Hills Of California started at 2:30, but it actually started at 2, so we had to SPRINT off the tube to get to the Harold Pinter Theatre. We missed the first 10 minutes.

It was really good!!! Loved it!! I had to take notes for the A-Level Live Theatre Questions, I probably won’t be able to read my handwriting tho. Slightly difficult to keep up with who’s who (bc we missed the first 10 mins) but it was so amazing. Basically, behind the scenes of a bnb in Blackpool in the 70s, four sisters have to come together when their mother is dying of cancer. I especially loved Victoria (the mum) and Joan (the only one of the quartet who went on to be famous) (who were played by the same actress I think??). The way they contrasted each other was amazing.

While waiting outside the Ambassador Theatre to watch the Enfield Haunting… I SAW MICHAEL SHEEN WALK PAST!!! He was just walking on the other side of the road with his wife!! I would have spoken to him, but I wasn’t sure it was him (because we’re in the middle of London and it’s unlikely that you just See Michael Sheen Walking About) and by the time I realised that it was Actually Him he was gone.

The Enfield Haunting was… mid, tbh. I was really looking forward to seeing Catherine Tate and David Threlfall, and they were amazing, and the set and lighting was amazing, but the writing really let it down. I know now that the point was that the real Enfield haunting was left unresolved, but we as the audience don’t know that, so it feels like it ends out of nowhere. I don’t think anything really happened?? It didn’t feel like there was a narrative at all, just “look at this haunted house! This girl is posessed! Bows”

TUMBLR POST OF THE DAY BECAUSE I AM A BLOGGER NOW APPARENTLY. DAY 2 OF 3 IN LONDON. I SAW THE HILLS OF CALIFORNIA, THE ENFIELD HAUNTING AND MICHAEL SHEEN

[satin-carmin]

Eleanor Worthington-Cox as Janet Hodgson in The Enfield Hauting, 2015

[paradox-n-bedrock]

mostly escaped the lure of David Tennant while existing here on the David Tennant website for over a decade and then fucking Macbeth got me and all of a sudden i'm a season deep in Broadchurch and completely understanding why everyone was so hot for grumpy, sad Alec Hardy

[spook-reviews]

Enfield Haunting

"An 11 year-old Janet terrorized by the paranormal activity permeating every room - or so she'd like everyone to believe; especially Mr. Grosse, the doting researcher who goes to great lengths to protect her from the strange, dark forces."

Released 2015

A 3 episode series well worth a watch. Admittedly I'm biased on this one. I'm a big fan of poltergeists and haunted houses; it's one of my favorite horror tropes. That being said, this has gotta be one of the best I've seen. The characters are what make this stand out. The writing and acting are both superb, and it makes you feel for the characters, letting them come alive as people with faults and desires. There is a small amount of gore, but its scarcity makes it that much more effective. The series also does an excellent job of building and maintaining suspense, as well as providing a natural release without relying on jump scares. As far as originality goes, it is fairly typical for its trope until the very end, so if you're not a fan of hauntings this one might not be for you. The ending, however, absolutely blows it out of the water. Without spoiling it, I'll just say that it was a surprisingly sentimental ending that wrapped it up beautifully.

Spookiness: 4/5

Effects: 4/5

Enjoyability: 5/5

[blackcatfilmprod]

Hi Guys,

Tonight Boys 'n' Ghouls Film Review Podcast Reviews The Conjuring Universe here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPTMnj0q4zg via YouTube

[witchpossession]