THE HOUSE ON COLD HILL

A review by Tanya Howard

The Harcourt family – Ollie, Caro and daughter Jade – move into the house of the dreams that has been empty for the last forty years. However, their dream home quickly turns into the stuff of nightmares, as they begin to sense that they aren’t the only residents at Cold Hill…

The House On Cold Hill is not only a modern day ghostly thriller but it’s actually based on multi million selling author Peter James’ own real life experience of living in a haunted house. It will definitely make you think twice about being home alone of an evening or a dark room as I found when I couldn’t sleep and got up in the night completely freaking myself out.

Ollie and Caro, played by Joe McFadden and Rita Simons, are excited for their new start in their “forever home” but daughter Jade (Persephone Swales-Dawson) doesn’t share their enthusiasm, upset about moving away from her friends especially when she finds she is stuck with a dodgy internet connection and screeching water pipes that have everyone on edge.

The family move in just a few days before Ollie’s 40th birthday and Caro buys him an Alexa which becomes an important cruxes as the family descend into the horror of a classic ghost story but with a modern update. Alongside this daughter Jade is glued to her Facetime, which may have been a way to engage a younger audience but Persephone didn’t quite capture the true essence of a sulking teenager glued to her phone uninterested in anything else.

The show had the classic staples of a ghost story, the dubious locals gossiping about secrets of the past, a cynic who becomes the terrified believer, an angry spirit whose back story is wrecked with pain and sorrow, and the peculiar psychic who communicates with spirits. Charlie Clements, in the role of awkward tech geek and spirit aficionado, was my stand out of the night.

Hired as Ollie’s new assistant for his online marketing business, Chris had always been on a mission to prove that ghosts are real but tries to keep it from the Harcourt’s as he doesn’t want them to get the wrong impression. When he is exposed as knowing more about the house’s history, and believing in ghosts, he asks the family if he can bring his equipment to the house to get proof. He manages to easily switch between awkward and passionate characteristics, and has sceptical me on the edge of my seat as he explained the scientific explanation of ghosts.

Despite the set only consisting of a small portion of the implied huge mansion they still manage to have characters appear out of dark corners that you didn’t know existed and have you jumping in line with the cast. The music was used effectively in line with the scary points but was at times overused and I was expecting to jump but nothing came about.

I have actually read the book of The House Of Cold Hill and I understand the struggles of bringing a book to the stage or screen, squishing days and endless information into a shorter format but I was very impressed with the play. It’s not a ghost story that would leave you terrified for your life, like Woman In Black, but it definitely leaves you with goosebumps and a little jumpy at dark corners or a bump in the night.