‘Paranormal Activity’ Play to Haunt the West End’s Ambassadors Theatre This December
The found-footage horror phenomenon Paranormal Activity is trading night-vision cameras for footlights this winter, as “Paranormal Activity: A New Story Live on Stage” prepares for a 12-week engagement at the Ambassadors Theatre starting 5 December.
Unlike a straight remake of the 2007 micro-budget blockbuster, the stage version presents an original tale set within the franchise’s spectral universe. Penned by playwright Levi Holloway, whose Broadway thriller Grey House chilled audiences last year, and directed by immersive-theatre trailblazer Felix Barrett (Sleep No More), the play follows Chicago transplants James and Lou, a couple who relocate to London only to discover an unseen presence stalking their new home. In true Paranormal fashion, they set up a camera to capture the escalating disturbances, inviting spectators to witness the horror alongside them.
“I’ve long wondered how you could recreate that visceral, jump-out-of-your-seat reaction the films inspired,” Barrett said in a statement. “Breaking the inherent safety of a plush West End theatre has been an incredible challenge—we can’t wait to see how London audiences respond.”
Holloway, meanwhile, promises a “shared language of dread,” describing the script as “mixing the familiar with the uncanny, heart with horror” to “trouble their sleep” well after the curtain falls.
The production reunites Barrett and Holloway after last year’s world-premiere run at Leeds Playhouse, where early audiences were sworn to secrecy about its frights. Before its West End bow, the show will embark on a brief North American tour this autumn, stopping at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Los Angeles’ Center Theatre Group/Ahmanson, Washington DC’s Shakespeare Theatre Company and San Francisco’s American Conservatory Theater.
Producer Simon Friend, working in partnership with Paramount Pictures, hailed the collaboration as “bold” and “terrifying,” adding that the creative team “might leave you sleeping with the lights on.”
Paramount’s original Paranormal Activity earned nearly $200 million worldwide on a budget reportedly under $20,000 and spawned seven films, cementing its status as one of cinema’s most profitable horror series. The stage incarnation aims to bring that same low-tech, high-tension shock factor into the intimate confines of a 444-seat theatre, where there’s nowhere for startled viewers to hide.
Tickets for the limited West End run go on sale this week. Audience members are advised to brace themselves, and perhaps keep a light on in the hallway when they get home.
