‘Stranger Things: The First Shadow’ play review: high-production essential viewing for fans
With season five of Stranger Things not set for release until 2025, there is a long wait ahead for fans of the sci-fi show. However, London’s West End is keeping audiences fed as the new Duffer brothers’ written play, Stranger Things: The First Shadow, is unveiled.
I’ll admit, I’m a scaredy cat. Standing outside the theatre on opening night, I text my friend, “I hope it isn’t scary”. Some 15 minutes later, when I’m clutching my jumper up over my mouth to keep myself from screaming, I wonder what I’ve gotten myself in for. Perfectly aligning with the continued ramp-up of tension and horror over the TV show’s four seasons, the new play is ominous but completely and utterly epic.
The opening sequence alone is deserving of the ticket price as the special effects team wastes no time in getting the audience audibly gasping and squealing. As the whole stage appears to change in a split second as if by magic, revealing huge towering sets, surprise pop-ups dotted around the theatre, and ingenious use of lighting, the crowd can’t help but let out a mass cheer as the familiar Netflix title sequence plays out to punctuate the prologue.
The crossover between TV and theatre can feel a little jarring for purists. At moments when the screen comes down, and the audience is watching nothing other than a projected sequence that could have been plucked straight from the Netflix series, the energy does lull a little. But mostly, the tight connections between the Stranger Things we know on screen and this new episode being played out on stage are brilliant.
The project is written by the series creators, the Duffer brothers, alongside another Netflix favourite writer, Kate Trefry and playwright Jack Thorne. Directed by Stephen Daldry, the man behind the West End production and film of Billy Elliot, the show is a coming together of the best names across TV and theatre, creating a crack team that seems to approach the stage with one foot in each world. Stranger Things: The First Shadow is a play with the adventurous spirit and high-production scale of a TV show, daring to try things no other production ever has.
It also benefits the characterisation as the play stages a prequel to where the TV series picks up. Dropping audiences into Hawkins in 1959, we learn more about experimentation that led to the ‘Upside Down’, Eleven and all the antics that played out in the four seasons. For fans of the series, the stage show is littered with easter eggs and connections. The characters all match up, dropping in surnames to draw links between favoured TV show characters like Eddie Munson and his father, Alan Munson, who we meet in the show. The well-known characters of Joyce Byers, Jim Hopper and Bob Newby shine as our heroes, but the lead and truly the stage stealing stand out is the role of Henry Creel, played by Louis McCartney.
McCartney’s portrayal of Creel is genuinely terrifying yet full of rich feelings. Managing to balance horror with empathy, his portrayal of the character, who is revealed to be Vecna, is gripping. For this to be his professional debut screams of an incredibly promising career to come.
According to the Duffer brothers, the play was written to bridge the gap between seasons four and five. Picking up where the latest season left off, the show slowly reveals the origin story of Vecna, the original patient zero that led to all the horror-tinged happenings in Hawkins. For keener fans, that story is probably evident from minute one. But for the common watcher, like me, the slow reveal is masterful. Occasionally dipping directly into the TV show, playing out scenes from the latest season on the stage to jog the audiences’ memory, it’s all original enough to feel entertaining but connected enough to make sense. In the final tense moment and extreme jumpscares, the ties between the stage production and TV show are tied into a perfect, interwoven bow. Overwhelmingly, this official, original story from the TV show’s team feels like essential watching, like a vital piece of the Stranger Things canon that fans must go and see.
I’m not sure I would consider myself a Stranger Things “fan”. Along with everyone else in the world, I’ve watched the seasons, but that was the extent of my interest or engagement. But from minute one to the very end, The First Shadow had me on the edge of my seat, more often than not with my mouth wide open, gasping, screaming and exclaiming, “How on earth have they done that?” At moments where the whole stage seems to change by magic, pulling off special effects and stunts that seem to defy gravity or explanation, the stage show seems to quite literally have supernatural powers. An absolute feat of set design, staging and lighting, the greatest kudos have to go to the creative and tech teams behind this show.
As the show rages towards its climax in the second half, with the main character, Henry Creel, becoming more and more violent under the leeching evil inside him, I get rather overstimulated. While the staging continues to get better and better, nearly three hours of booms and blackouts can leave the audience feeling a little exhausted. By the time we all shuffled out of the theatre, the loud noises and regular jump scares had my nerves shot. I’m shaking in the overground home, mildly haunted by some of the more terrifying moments and gory visions. I’m 25 and prepping for nightmares, wondering how the young kids in the theatre handled it as I misshaped my jumper from hiding behind it. It’s a thrilling watch, keeping you in a state of suspense throughout the run time, but for people weary of jumpscares, light flashes and loud noises, this isn’t one for you.
With so many of the onstage illusions, set changes and tricks on stage, I have literally no idea how they pulled it off. The Phoenix Theatre, opened in 1930, seems host to some supernatural magic as Stranger Things: The First Shadow takes over its stage. Unlike anything else on offer in the West End, the stage dares to dream up a whole new world of possibilities for theatre. Perfectly bridging the stage and screen, masterfully using and expanding on the source text, The First Shadow feels as essential viewing for fans as the TV show itself.
