Immersive from its opening seconds, Werewolf performs in the round and in amongst its audience for a long “containment” in the small space of the Former Women’s Locker Room at Summer Hall.
Werewolf sets itself up as an apocalyptic safe room against a disease outbreak. We meet 3 wardens, there to make sure things go smoothly. Over the course of the next 7 days (60 mins), we watch on as suspicion grows and unrest seeps its way inside the locked door of the bunker.
It’s difficult to write about this piece without giving too much away. Werewolf does very well in setting the scene early and vividly. The audience truly feel a part of the experience and like we are trapped in a “safe house”. Impeccable performances from our three “wardens”, brilliant lighting and some incredible sound design create a perfect hour of interactive and immersive theatre that is not to be missed this year.
The actors do a brilliant job of making the audience feel at ease, their performances are subtle, at times very funny, but most of all truly and utterly believable. Joel Baxendale plays the easy-to-hate warden who tries to take charge at any given moment. He makes a lot of compelling points throughout, but it’s due to his performance that the audience tend to not side with him much throughout.
Stella Reid plays the warden who is just trying to keep things calm. Her performance is naturalistic, conveying that she truly cares for everyone in the room and feels like the backbone of the show.
Hannah Kelly excellently plays the warden who is trying to make everyone happy. She instantly befriends everyone she makes eye contact with and is a friendly face throughout.
The setting of being locked inside is one audiences will be worryingly familiar with, but it still feels nonetheless terrifying, claustrophobic and unsure.
Werewolf uses all the tools at its disposal to give the audience a truly unforgettable experience, with some very unexpected and unsettling moments this isn’t for the faint of heart.
Overall, an amazing piece of theatre that demonstrates just what can be achieved with incredible world building and some very simple, yet incredibly effective story telling.
Theatre Scotland 
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