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Picnic at Hanging Rock

Picnic at Hanging Rock

The sun beat down on the faces of the three girls. It was bright and warm with no cloud in the sky, but the black shadow of Hanging Rock glowered over them… even on the brightest of days you can’t escape the dark….

On a summer’s day in 1900 three Australian schoolgirls grew tired of their classmates and yearned for adventure. Escaping their teacher’s watchful gaze they absconded, away from the group and towards the beckoning Hanging Rock – never to be seen again.

Picnic at Hanging Rock has haunted the Australian psyche for over a century both in print and on film. In Tom Wright’s chilling adaptation of Joan Lindsay’s classic novel, five performers struggle to solve the mystery of the missing girls and their teacher. Euphoria and terror reverberate throughout Appleyard College, as the potential for history to repeat itself becomes nightmarishly real.


The critical consensus

It draws the audience in and keeps their attention but fails to deliver any real edge of the seat moments.

***(*)(*)Tom Ralphs, The Reviews Hub, 15/01/2017

While this conceptual interpretation of the Australian classic filled with eerie sounds may be thought provoking, it fails to send shivers.

***(*)(*)Irene Brown, Edinburgh Guide, 15/01/2017

Indeed, the ambition and intelligence of the production are commendable. The main drawback is that it clearly sets out to disturb, and does not manage to do so consistently enough.

***(*)(*)Hugh Simpson, All Edinburgh Theatre, 15/01/2017

It’s a show with a volcanic power.

****(*)Mark Fisher, The Guardian, 15/01/2017

As devastating as it is delicate.

*****Neil Cooper, Coffee-Table Notes, 15/01/2017

Unfortunately, the girls’ obvious talent is not enough to overcome the problems in the script and staging, and though the play is a useful exercise in disconcerting theatre, it never quite reaches the heights of terror and panic to which it strives.

***(*)(*)Jonny Sweet, TVBomb, 15/01/2017

An explosion of theatrical power as fierce as it is contemplative, and so original that no-one who sees it is likely to forget it.

****(*)Joyce McMillan, The Scotsman, 16/01/2017

Picnic at Hanging Rock is taut, allusive and uses a curdled romanticism to expose the desperate mismatch between colonial aspirations to tame and the unforgiving powers that lurk in the wilderness.

****(*)Gareth K Vile, The List, 16/01/2017

This, the darkest time of year, makes it a great moment to explore the darkest recesses of our imaginations.

****(*)Simon Thompson, WhatsOnStage, 16/01/2017

As compelling, visceral and insistent as that wasp in your otherwise perfect picnic jam pot. Unmissable.

*****John Kennedy, The Edinburgh Reporter, 16/01/2017

There are elements to be enjoyed here, it’s just a shame they were not more consistent.

**(*)(*)(*)Ben Reiss, Plays to See, 16/01/2017

The director has...created a memorable work of unsettling events and unsettled psychology.

Mark Brown, Scottish Stage, 17/01/2017

Picnic at Hanging Rock is an absolute triumph of the dual power of theatre and horror to manipulate our realities and leave us haunted not by ghosts, but by our own imaginations.

Christine Irvine, Exeunt, 17/01/2017

The cast of five...powerfully show the seismic effect of the vanishing on the other schoolgirls, staff and local community.

Joy Watters, Across the Arts, 18/01/2017

That this adaptation opts to focus chiefly on a sense of dread is not, in itself, a problem; that it doesn’t always achieve it, though, is.

***(*)(*)Paul F Cockburn, Broadway Baby, 18/01/2017

Flawed, at times overwrought, but at its best it provokes the same shiver of disquiet as Weir’s woozily frightening movie.

***(*)(*)Allan Radcliffe, 17/01/2017

A vivid adaptation of the classic Australian tale about the disappearance of a group of schoolgirls in 1900.

****(*)Susannah Clapp, The Observer, 22/01/2017

Picnic at Hanging Rock is a rich, dark theatrical tapestry that explores the horror of loss, yet never loses the powerful ambiguity or dread of the original text. This is an unforgettable, if not utterly disturbing piece of work.

****(*)Amy Taylor, The Skinny, 23/01/2017

It is a fascinating and expansive take on Lindsay’s novel, and a penetrating contemplation of the construction of Australia.

Mark Brown, Scottish Stage, 24/01/2017


Features about Picnic at Hanging Rock

Preview: Picnic at Hanging Rock

Gareth K Vile, The List, 15/11/2016

Theatre Preview--Picnic at Hanging Rock

John Kennedy, The Edinburgh Reporter, 24/12/2016

Picnic at Hanging Rock--Matthew Lutton of Melbourne's Malthouse Theatre on putting Joan Lindsay's novel onstage

Neil Cooper, Coffee-Table Notes, 03/01/2017

Where and when?

Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh from Friday January 13, 2017, until Saturday January 28, 2017. More info: www.lyceum.org.uk

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