There are few things more terrifying than a haunted cellar, except maybe realizing you’ve wandered into the basement of a Halloween craft store and can’t find your way up to the clearance section. Welcome to Burbage Theatre Company’s Witching Hour: Secret Cellar, James Lucey’s wonderfully sinister horror anthology, where bygone merchandise, questionable decisions, and things that should remain in their boxes collide. Here, razorblades in Reece’s are a requirement, and shocking fervor is the norm, with more crying and screaming than Trump’s tighty whities.
Burbage’s Artistic Director Jeff Church directs this world premiere, where horror and dark comedy go bump in the night with three tales of terror. The eerily absurd premise involves the cellar’s macabre caretaker, Randall, portrayed by playwright James Lucey, who not only introduces the sinister feel to the production, but is responsible for many of the comical moments as well. When an employee descends into the (pit of Hell) forgotten basement in search of zombie makeup, he encounters Randall, whose straightforward speech is convincing enough to have you braving the shadows.
“Burbage is thrilled to continue producing James Lucey’s inventive, original work,” says Church. “James has been a valued collaborator and resident artist at Burbage since our inception. He has developed a unique theatrical voice that, in the case of the Witching Hour series, balances a studied love of horror with an essential sense of humor. At the heart of the Witching Hour series is a simple idea: horror is too seldom produced onstage, and the particular possibilities of live theatre make it an extraordinarily exciting genre to explore.”
Church goes on to say, “We’re especially excited to have James himself back on stage at Burbage, leading us into and through the Secret Cellar. Whether you’ve been with us for every installment or have never seen Witching Hour before, this production stands entirely on its own: a new collection of strange, funny, bloody, and genuinely frightening stories built specifically for live performance. That’s what has made this series so much fun for us, and we can’t wait to find out what James has stored away down there this year.”
While Randall brings the production’s central mystery to life, Jordan Smith as Ernie provides the unfortunate clerk whose shift takes an unmistakably supernatural turn. Katie Ryan, Parry Barkett, Allison Crews, Sara McCormick, Aidan Costa and Sofia DaSilva round out the alarming ensemble, helping to inhabit a peculiar world with characters whose circumstances may make you feel grateful for your own mundane chores.
The props by Brittany Costello deserve mention. With a cellar full of dusty, spooky merchandise and strange artifacts, there is plenty of opportunity for everyday objects to become instruments of terror. At Burbage, even a seemingly innocent item can prompt the question, “Was that supposed to move?” Trevor Elliott’s scenic design helps establish the creepy storage room atmosphere, transforming an ordinary basement into a place where common sense crawls to die.
This production’s theatrical approach to practical horror gives us a setting where the tension is unsettling, knowing something lurks nearby, inspiring little desire to go investigate. This sort of mayhem leaves no room for hiding from the action. The staging balances the anthology’s shifting stories with the central cellar setting, giving us a front-row seat to the mischief. Sort of like daring to open a suspicious closet after someone warns you not to.
Someone also has to make sure the chaos happens on cue, and behind these scares is technical director Andrew Iacovelli. He and the creative team keep this supernatural train on track. Lighting is essential to a good horror tale, as nothing says “doom lurks” like a sudden change in visibility. Lights darken with suspense. Shadows can feel uncomfortably close, and darkness is more than just a way to save electricity.
Burbage’s Witching Hour: Secret Cellar offers a wickedly entertaining performance that may leave you checking suspicious corners with a flashlight, reconsidering basement storage, and wondering whether that missing box of haunting decorations is worth the hunt. Aisle be damned, Witching Hour: Secret Cellar is a frightfully good time!
Burbage presents Witching Hour: Secret Cellar through November 1. Show runs 75 minutes with no intermission. For more information, visitburbagetheatre.org/secretcellar.