Hauntings: when the past comes back to haunt us…
Hauntings: when the past comes back to haunt us…
Hauntings are two plays written and directed by local author Johnny O’Hanlon and are part of Titchfield Festival Theatre’s New Play Season.
The Voice in the Room
Set during the severe winter of 1978, three young homeless people break into the basement of an old Victorian sweet shop. Their attempts to keep warm, in one of the coldest winters on record, are disrupted by a voice from the past seeking revenge on one of the group - who is hiding an appalling secret…
All That Remains
The second play is set in the present day and early events from her childhood in Berlin during the 1930’s haunt Rosa Goldberg, who sits in her room of a nursing home. A visitor linked to her past stirs aching memories – memories she would prefer to forget…
Director of Hauntings Johnny O’Hanlon said, “The Voice in the Room is based on my experiences as a student, living above a butcher’s shop in London. There was something really quite unsettling about the building; after the butcher shop closed up for the night, we could hear doors closing, floorboards creaking and people moving about. During the bitterly cold winter, and as students, we felt trapped in this small flat with little food.
“This gave me the idea of recreating the ambience of that time; three homeless teenagers spending a night in the basement of an abandoned shop. The Voice in the Room is based on the idea of sounds, things we can hear but cannot see. A strange manifestation appears from the past involving one of the group; and a dramatic ending to the play, as the fear and tension mounts…”
The second play All That Remains tells the story of Rosa. Johnny explained the inspiration behind this play, “Watching a BBC documentary last year, I was struck by the words of an elderly lady, a Jewish survivor from a concentration camp. She said, “I dream endless dreams, they drift in and out of my head, they haunt me… you call this being alive?” So I took this idea, an elderly woman in sheltered accommodation, to write a piece which re-enacted part of her past. All That Remains is the result.”
The cast includes three former members of the Titchfield Youth Theatre making their adult debuts.
Hauntings opens on Monday 24th February until Saturday 29th February 2020 at 7.30pm in the Acorn Studio, Titchfield Festival Theatre, St Margarets Lane, Titchfield PO14 4BG. Further details of our productions can be found on our website: https://www.titchfieldfestivaltheatre.com/whats-on including the full 2020 brochure.
For more information, please go to http://titchfieldfestivaltheatre.com/ or contact our Box Office on 0333 6663366 (24 hour service) or for Group Bookings 01329 600010.
