To the intimate Drill Hall Theatre off Tottenham Court Road on Friday April 3 to see Miles Barden (left) and Joshua Dickinson (right) perform What Stirs the Spring. This was an evening of mystery and fear with half of the program penned by the VWC’s own Jonathan Pinnock and Oscar Windsor-Smith (centre).
The frighteners began with a superb rendition by Miles of The Monkey’s Paw by W. W. Jacobs. Seated as for a fireside conversation, he drew the audience in to this well-known tale and held our attention to the chilling climax. For the second tale of horror, Timelock by Oscar Windsor-Smith, Josh donned a monkish cloak and cowl to recount his meeting with a mystic whose suppurating face and body provided a queasy ending to Part I of the program.
Part II saw Miles and Josh together on stage with the very creepy After Michaelangelo by Jonathan Pinnock. Miles once more held us spellbound as he paced the stage in front of one of Ernest Packham’s human works of art (a very still Josh!) and revealed his old student friend’s shocking actions before turning the tables on the madman.
Josh performed the final piece The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allen Poe. He began as a confident murderer who taunts the police, but his dramatic descent into madness towards the end of the story with his whole body shaking was truly unnerving.
Miles and Josh are to be congratulated on their excellent interpretations of four finely written stories.
What Stirs the Spring follows the very successful A Winter’s Chill series of performances over Christmas (See Oscar-Windsor-Smith’s review of December 30th on this blog).
The next performance will be at 7:30 pm on Monday 13 April, 2009 at the Old Red Lion Theatre Pub (418, St. John St., Islington, EC1V 4NJ. Tel: 0207 8377816) Tickets available on the door (£8/6).