"Thrillers" of the stage

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 5/13/05 at 1:16am

A friend of mine is planning a season at his theatre and wants to include a "thriller." He asked me if I knew any, and besides a few obvious titles -- THE BAD SEED, WAIT UNTIL DARK, and SWEENEY TODD -- I can't think of many stage plays that qualify as scary. Any suggestions?

[Unknown User]

Posted: 5/13/05 at 1:18am

What popped into my mind are DEATHTRAP and SLEUTH.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 5/13/05 at 1:42am

Angel Street

[broadway86]

Posted: 5/13/05 at 1:43am

Voices in the Dark.

And if you have an amazing tech crew: The Woman in Black. Easily the scariest play I've ever seen.

[DickonDefysGravity]

Posted: 5/13/05 at 1:52am

Sleuth is good stuff...

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 5/13/05 at 1:53am

The Chairs, if done right, can be kinda scary. We did it at my high school and it gave a lot of people nightmares.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 5/13/05 at 2:00am

I didn't have the pleasure, but apparently some people think BROOKLYN is fairly frightening.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 5/13/05 at 7:12am

THE WOMAN IN BLACK -- a two-hander that has been playing in London for years. Spooky play.


(Not to be confused with the ALW musical, THE WOMAN IN WHITE.)

[Unknown User]

Posted: 5/13/05 at 7:14am

NIGHT MUST FALL by Emlyn Williams

[Eastwickian]

Posted: 5/13/05 at 8:03am

'And then there were none' (or whatever it's called now) by Agatha Christie can be pretty tense if done well.

[mikewood]

Posted: 5/13/05 at 9:04am

Angel Street CAN be a scary show I imagine. Unless that is you see a dull, plodding horibly paced production.

[Jon]

Posted: 5/13/05 at 9:10am

Don't forget SOMETHING'S AFOOT - the musical spoof of Agatha Christie mysteries. Not a true "thriller", but several fun special effects.

Also, there's a comedy thriller called ACCOMPLICE by Rupert Holmes (of EDWIN DROOD and "The Pina Colada Song" fame"). It had a short run on Broadway, starring Jason Alexander and Michael McKean. Again, lots of tricky technical effects and big surprises.

Regarding tehcnical aspects of THE WOMAN IN BLACK - the hardest part of the show is the sound - it's absolutley crucial. We did it last year, and rented the sound effects CDs from the original (still running) London production. The rental was over $1000, but there's no way we could have done it ourselves for less (hiring a sound engineer, renting a studio, hiring actors to do al the voices, etc.).

[OtherDaryl]

Posted: 5/13/05 at 9:14am

Agathat Christie's The Mousetrap, Ten Little Indians, The Hollow or Murder on the Nile. Ladies in Retirement, Emlyn Williams' Night Must Fall. Ira Levin's Veronica's Room, Anthony Schaffer's Murderer.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 5/13/05 at 9:23am

Gaslight

[romanov]

Posted: 5/13/05 at 9:28am

I saw a play called Corpse many seasons ago on bway. It was quite a lot of fun. I don't know who wrote it, and, unfortunately, I recently lost all of my playbills. It starred Milo O'Shea and the man from the obc of Sleuth, but I can't remember his name. Brian something, I think.

[harris007]

Posted: 5/13/05 at 9:37am

Dial m for murder still works very well

[OnTheAisle]

Posted: 5/13/05 at 9:39am

Corpse was written by Gerald Moon and is available through Samuel French...

Another comic "thriller" is Done to Death by Fred Carmichael (also Samuel French) - bunch of different writers (pseudo Agatha Christie, Nick & Nora Charles, Sam Spade, etc.) - was a lot of fun!

[mikewood]

Posted: 5/13/05 at 9:45am

Angel Street is Gaslight.

[ruthiefan_felix]

Posted: 5/13/05 at 10:36am

Woman In Black is easily the scariest thing I have seen (stage and screen)!!! The theatre is so small and the atmosphere is just so... scary!!! I think that the play is just SO cool! LOVE it! Will see it again and pee myself again!
gotta tell you guys... I watched the play alone and i was on middle 3rd row. And I thought it was like dull in Act 1, but ALL the tension built up in Act 2!!!!! And I have to cuddle myself and shake as on my right, father & son and on my left, a couple!!!!! I will not be SO unwise EVERY again to see the show alone!

[uncageg]

Posted: 5/13/05 at 10:46am

Stop, Your Killing Me. (We did it in high school)

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 5/13/05 at 11:06am

I wish I were going to London...I'd definitely see the woman in black!
There is a movie done for British TV, but it is out of print and selling on amazon for $100!!
Why never a production in NYC?

[harris007]

Posted: 5/13/05 at 11:12am

there was it didnt "translate" to well

[KelRel]

Posted: 5/13/05 at 11:16am

I personally hated Woman in Black, it was done terribly and not scary at all. By the end we were trying to stifle laughs when the "scary" parts happened. I was not impressed at all.

[broadway86]

Posted: 5/13/05 at 12:04pm

KelRel-

I don't know what production you saw, but when I saw it in London, I was so shaken by the end that I couldn't say anything for the remainder of the evening.

[Jon]

Posted: 5/13/05 at 12:24pm

The Off-Broadway production of WOMAN IN BLACK featured Keith Baxter, star of the original SLEUTH.