Playing around with your stage lighting is a great way to do this. The first task of any good horror play is to alter this atmosphere. Sat in a big comfortable seat in a nicely-lit theatre, the atmosphere of most auditoriums is one that promotes sitting back and losing yourself in a play.

One of the big problems with scaring people in the theatre is that people often feel too comfortable and self-aware of their surroundings. Here are some of the main ways we’ve come up with to spook out your spectators let us know if you can think of any more. Whether it’s through stage lighting, how you set out your stage or just some good ol’ fashioned ‘things that go bump in the night’, theatre can be just as scary – if not even more scary – than a night at the flicks. In a piece neatly timed for Halloween, the Guardian summed up the main points for arguing why theatre just isn’t as scary as the cinema.īut actually, we think that theatre can be scary – you just need to do it right.

In contrast, not many people would think of the theatre as the first place to go when looking to be scared. Even the less adventurous of us probably honoured the age old tradition of All Hallow’s Eve with a night in front of some scary movies.Ĭinema has a long tradition of producing genuinely terrifying movies and Hollywood (or Japan, Spain, Italy…wherever you prefer really) is often where we turn to when we fancy a bit of horror. Halloween has been and gone we’re sure many of you enjoyed a night out on the tiles dressed as one of many terrifying horrors, or even trick or treating.

Spooky stage plays