‘Vampire love story is so much more than just blood and gore’

Let The Right One In at the Barn Theatre (Image: Barn Theatre)

Emily Perry reviews Let The Right One In at the Barn Theatre in WGC.

I came new to this play, never having seen the film nor read the book, both by John Ajvide Lindqvist, on which it is based.

It’s described as ‘romantic Swedish horror’ which, I have to say, is not my go-to genre, but along I went, with an open mind.

We follow Oskar (brilliantly played by Noah Fox), a socially awkward teenager, who is just trying to survive and navigate his way through life.

He is bullied by a group of his peers and is forced to find ways to defend himself.

Along comes Eli (Kelsey Cooke, another brilliant performance), the not-quite-human vampire who is equally awkward.

They find a mutual companionship, which leads to love and romance, but not without a few bumps and a bit of blood sucking along the way.

I don’t want to give the whole story away as I want you to go and see it for yourselves, but what I will say is that this is an interesting and intelligent piece of theatre.

Let The Right One In explores some of the issues that youth of today face, reflecting the unkindness that can exist in society and it’s great to see such a challenging piece tackled by local theatre.

Director Coral Walton has done an excellent job, not shirking from the script’s strong language, or the bold use of special effects, that make the bloody scenes so believable.

Clearly, this isn’t a straightforward happy play, and there are undeniably moments that are hard to watch, but don’t let that put you off.

At its heart it is a painfully tender story about love between two marginalised young people.

Walton has drawn some terrific performances out of this mostly youthful cast of 11, and there is some real talent among them.

The intimidation scenes were particularly good, with an authenticity that can be difficult to pull off.

Not in this piece. I had fellow audience members telling me in the interval of their dislike for the bully and empathy for the victim.

As I’m coming to realise, production values at this little local theatre are consistently high and I can only wonder at the talent of those involved in creating the visual and sound effects that turn the stage into a silver-birch world that’s as icy as Narnia.

I went along to the Barn expecting to see a bit of love and gore. It was so much more than that.

What I saw was an intelligent, technically assured piece that uses vampire myth to tell us about adolescent pain and loneliness. But you may not think so.

It’s a thought-provoking piece and there are a few tickets left – get down to the Barn Theatre and see for yourself.

• Let The Right One In runs until Saturday, March 31.

Tickets are £13. Visit www.barntheatre.co.uk to book or call the box office on 01707 324300.