Joy Watters reviews John Tiffany's 'gripping, horrifying' production.
Director
John Tiffany's farewell to the National Theatre of Scotland slowly emerges from
the mist to go straight for the jugular while disturbingly plucking at the
heartstrings.
Let the Right One In is adapted for the stage by Jack Thorne from best-selling Swedish novel and film screenplay by John Ajvide Lindquist. A second film moved the action to the States and this stage version shifts it to Scotland while retaining some of the Swedish feel.
At the heart of it lies the growing relationship between vampire Eli and schoolboy Oskar. Both tormented outsiders, she has to keep her blood-sucking secret while he is bullied mercilessly by the other boys.
Set in a snowy forest with urban touches of street lighting and unforgiving buildings, there is initially something of Hansel and Gretel about the two young people clinging together against the world.
Tiffany's production is a slow burner as the horrors of vampirism unfold against the dysfunctional relationships which surround the young people.
It is like watching a nightmare as the evil acts unfold in a half-light. The onlooker wonders if they have really witnessed such horrors. Chahine Yavroyan's lighting design makes an enormous contribution to the sense of the failing of the light and the goodness that goes with it.
The performances of Rebecca Benson and Martin Quinn as Eli and Oskar are outstanding amidst an excellent cast. Benson grabs the agony of Eli's situation through words and movement, particularly the pain of not harming the boy she loves, even saving his life. Quinn, making his professional debut, brings humour and a touch of daft laddie to leaven Oskar's hardships.
With its gruesome themes and lack of humanity, it is by no means a likeable piece but is thoroughly admirable in its execution with a strong cast who do not shy away from the horrors, some even managing to evoke empathy for their destructive actions.
Beautifully staged, underpinned by Olafur Arnalds' cinematic score, with ingenious ways of shifting the action from houses to swimming pool to finally a train taking the pair to a new life, Tiffany's Scottish swansong is a fascinating creation.
Gripping, horrifying, this is no ordinary vampire tale but a haunting production that disturbingly lingers on in the mind.
Let the Right One In is at Dundee Rep until June 29.
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