Stage Play Acts Out Theatre's Haunted Reputation

smh - When the cast of Sydney Ghost Stories returned to the basement of the Old Fitzroy Theatre this week for dress rehearsals, something was noticeably amiss.

Sound levels, which had been meticulously set the night before, were miscued. Both doors to the Woolloomooloo theatre are kept locked with security codes so there was no way in or out.

Moving props, lights which unexpectedly blow and turn themselves on and off, strange whispered voices, cracks and groans are all part of the regular experience of rehearsals in the theatre's basement space, says artistic director Leland Kean.

The Old Fitzroy's reputation for things that go bump in the night is milked in the first of the night's six short plays. The telling of Fitzroy's actual haunted happenings is intended to unsettle audiences and pump up the scare factor.

In theatre the art of suspense is as much in the writing as it is in stage trickery and sound and lighting effects. ''The stories are chilling … but what comes out in the writing is the tension, the sense of unknowing, and suspense builds from information that is withheld,'' says Kean.

''Theatrical audiences are open to having their paranoia and fears being played with …

''There is a great tradition in theatre, in Hamlet and Macbeth, where the presence of a ghost is accepted and people are generally curious about the supernatural.''

Helping to create the necessary ominous mood is the dark shadowy space of the theatre.

The long-running West End production of Woman in Black, about a menacing ghost that haunts a small English town, makes for a chilling … experience and demonstrates the frightening effect of a mere rocking chair, says Kean.

Creative producer Katy Alexander says lightning and sound effects have many times left her with a strange sense of unease.

People ''love nothing better than true crime and True Blood and Twilight is incredibly popular. We do hope to run this series next year and we would like a Sydney vampire.''

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