Theatre
Dar Darun
City Theatre, Valletta

The concept of a comic horror story is not new. From the Addams Family and Blythe Spirit, to the cult Rocky Horror Picture Show and even classic Scooby Doo, the blend of the supernatural and the macabre with the often hilarious reactions of the characters involved, makes for good, light entertainment.

This was the aim of writer-director Clive Piscopo’s Dar Darun, in collaboration with Free Spirit Acting and co-written by Andre Mangion, staged last weekend.

The highly complex plot was rather too crammed full of clichés and oft-used motifs and could have done with some serious cutting and simplification. However, the dialogue was good, fast-paced and snappy, and did special justice to the male members of the cast, who were also the strongest.

The basic premise of the story was that a group of young men held a bachelor party in an old abandoned house with a ghostly reputation and are pranked by their girlfriends into thinking that there was something eerie going on. This was all well and good and delivered the comedy it promised.

However, the second act took on a much more complicated turn and included not only elements of the supernatural, but also of historical and chronological plotting which required refinement.

Dar Darun’s setting and certain plot elements became increasingly similar to The Secret of Crickley Hall (James Herbert) and Ms Peregrin’s Home for Peculiar Children (Ransom Riggs). It had one scene where some of the friends, along with a host of ghostly children in the house, attempt to reanimate the other half of their friends who have been put into a state of suspended animation by the evil Darvulia (Lorraine Dimech Genuis), rather like the petrificus totalus curse from Harry Potter, by showing them love à la Disney’s Frozen – altogether too many tropes at one go.

With such an overly-complex plot, it was a relief to have such good banter and characterisation through the dialogue, which helped reveal a good set of promising male actors, whose dynamic was fast-paced and punchy, if a tad rough around the edges.

Alvin Ciaccatolo and Andre Mangion played brothers Bobby and Austin respectively, who turned up at the abandoned house with their friends, Jason (Francesco Catania), Zack (Stefan Magri) and Tiziano (Julian Vella), for Bobby’s bachelor party.

There were some genuinely comedic moments often centring around Tiziano, whose character, thanks to his impeccable timing, Vella executed well. Magri and Mangion also brought out their character traits consistently, while Ciaccatolo and Catania could have done with modulating their voices a bit more, but worked well within the group dynamics.

I was rather disappointed with the female cast, Kri Abela (Clarissa), Mariele Zammit (Mandy), Mandy Galea (Vicky) and Maria Farrugia (Rita), who were altogether much more pitchy and difficult to follow, with the exception of Iona Ghiller, whose brash and butch Alexandra contrasted well with her henpecked boyfriend, Tiziano.

When it came to auditory impairment, what irked me the most was the fact that I could not follow any of the voice-overs clearly, as the balance was so far off that all one could hear was muffled reverb.

With an extended physical/movement piece – when the two brothers were being supernaturally manipulated by the antagonistic husband and wife duo, the greedy and heartless ghosts Darun (Jesmond Mizzi) and Darvulia – an already short stage depth crowded by a large set and a very long and unnecessary dance routine at the end, there seemed to be too much going on.

The dance felt out of place, and even included Reuben Rapa’s Dun Salv, who officiated a wedding in spite of his being a deceased priest, to a congregation of the 10 living friends and the sweet ghost children, orphans ‘saved’ by Bobby and Austin from the evil clutches of Darun and Darvulia.

I found Dar Darun to be a good idea which lost its way – it is admirable to give fledgling actors a platform from which to practise their craft, and I fully support this: indeed, there were several promising individuals in the performance, but the entire piece could have done with a firm editorial hand and less lenient direction.