Something Wicked This Way Comes: Inside The Nightmare Room
Written by Katie Barr
There is something particularly unsettling about a locked room.
Put two people inside it, add a bottle of poison, a complicated history and a few secrets that really should have stayed buried, and you have all the ingredients for a very uncomfortable evening at the theatre.
That is exactly what The Nightmare Room delivers.
Arriving at Nottingham’s Theatre Royal as the second production in this year’s Colin McIntyre Classic Thriller Season, John Goodrum’s adaptation of the Arthur Conan Doyle story takes a much darker turn than the opening production, Anybody for Murder. Gone is the frantic comedy and instead we are presented with something far more claustrophobic, psychological and, at times, genuinely chilling.
The premise is simple enough. Helen wakes to discover herself blindfolded and tied to a chair. Standing over her is Catherine, her former best friend, and between them sits a bottle of poison. What follows is less about the obvious question of who will survive and far more about why these two women have ended up here in the first place.
And, as any good thriller should, The Nightmare Room makes sure that nothing is quite as straightforward as it first appears.
The set immediately establishes the mood. There is nowhere for the characters to hide and nowhere for the audience to look except at the two women and the increasingly uncomfortable situation developing between them. It creates an almost voyeuristic feeling; we are watching something intensely private unfold, and there is a constant sense that we probably shouldn’t be seeing it.
Sarah Wynne Kordas is excellent as Catherine, managing to make her both frightening and strangely sympathetic. She is controlled for much of the evening, but beneath that composure there is a sense of someone who is slowly coming apart. It is in those quieter moments that Kordas really shines, because the character becomes much more than simply the villain of the piece.
Corinne Begluk gives an equally compelling performance as Helen. What begins with fear gradually develops into something much more complicated, and Begluk handles those changes brilliantly. The relationship between the two performers is what makes the production work. One minute they are threatening each other, the next there is a glimpse of the friendship they once shared, and suddenly you find yourself questioning everything you thought you understood.
The flashbacks are particularly effective in showing how their relationship reached this point. Rather than simply giving us the answers, they gradually add another layer to the story, revealing pieces of a friendship that has become increasingly poisoned by jealousy, betrayal and resentment.
There were certainly moments when I found myself trying to work out where the story was heading. Just when you think you’ve figured it out, another piece of information appears to make you reconsider. Some twists may be easier to spot than others, but that didn’t stop me from enjoying the process of trying to get there first.
The production also makes clever use of lighting and sound. The sharp changes between the present-day nightmare and the memories of the past help keep the audience on edge, while the stark visual design gives the whole thing a slightly surreal quality.
What impressed me most, though, was how much tension could be created with so little. This isn’t a production that needs explosions, elaborate sets or a huge cast. Two actors, a confined space and a story built around secrets are more than enough.
The Nightmare Room is the kind of thriller that makes you suspicious of everyone, including the people you initially think you understand. It asks how well we really know the people closest to us — and how quickly friendship can turn into something much more dangerous.
By the time the final pieces fall into place, you may find yourself looking back at everything that came before and wondering how much you missed.
And perhaps that is the real nightmare.
All content is original to The Literary Lounge Blog.
In-article images provided by Nottingham Theatre Royal’s press team. No changes were made to these images.
Featured Image provided by Nottingham Theatre Royal. No changes were made to this image.
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