Paranormal Activity: A New Story Live on Stage

When it was released into cinemas back in 2007, Oren Peli’s minimalist creeper, Paranormal Activity, absolutely terrified audiences and garnered critical praise for its chilling, low-key execution. It tells of a young couple who try to document supernatural occurrences in their home by setting up cameras throughout the house. Peli’s suggestive, slow-burning and highly atmospheric approach effortlessly exploited collective fears of the unknown and of the dark. Handheld camerawork provided a sense of intimate urgency, placing us within the action, while long, static shots from the various security cameras prompted us to gaze into the dark abyss of the screen, searching for the vaguest hints of threat in the corners of the frame. The creeping power of Paranormal Activity rendered our own homes unsafe spaces full of shadows, threat and possible demonic invasion.

Now, nearly 20 years later, Paranormal Activity has been adapted for stage, inviting theatre audiences into a whole new creepy, voyeuristic experience, and into a much more immediate, closer proximity with fear, no longer separated from it by a screen. Written by Levi Holloway and directed by Felix Barett, Paranormal Activity actually makes for a highly effective stage play, with its story carefully unfolding and contained within the limited space (like the film) of a suburban home as a malevolent, supernatural presence intrudes upon the everyday, the mundane. The stage play stars James Bye and Hannah Sinclair Robinson as James and Lou, an American couple who have recently moved to London from Chicago and are settling into a life away from the vital support of friends and family, learning to rely solely upon each other.

As the play begins, the theatre (Glasgow’s beautiful Royal Theatre) is plunged into absolute darkness. From the depths of the darkness speaks a woman’s disembodied voice, calm, authoritative. She tells us that people, not places, are haunted, and as the curtain lifts and the lights slowly come up to reveal a cosy domestic scene, the voice is revealed to be drifting out of a stereo in an empty living-room; a podcast host talking about ghosts and possession. The striking set design by Fly Davis is a cross-section cutaway of a modest two-story London townhouse. It renders the audience a mass of floating voyeurs, suspended in the darkness surrounding the stage, gazing intently into the home of James and Lou. Lighting design by Anna Watson creates a homey space which will later take on a much more menacing, creepy atmosphere with her stunning use of shadows and light.

Bye and Sinclair Robinson’s grounded performances make James and Lou likable and relatable, and their personal situation enables us to root for them. They are vulnerable and susceptible, particularly Lou, who works remotely and spends most of her time at home. It is also revealed in a particularly fraught conversation with James’s mother that Lou suffers from depression and is taking medication for her anxiety. We gradually learn that they were running away from things in their past. Things which may finally have caught up with them. It all adds to the sense of unease, intrigue and ever-so-slowly building tension. Being privy to their sometimes very candid conversations adds to the uneasy, voyeuristic experience. Isn’t that what being a theatre audience member or film viewer is though? We’re essentially like invisible ghosts observing the lives of others, unbeknownst to them, privy to their every thought and action.

The sound design by Gareth Fry is particularly noteworthy, ranging from a near constant low-level drone throughout some scenes - creating an underlying sense of dread and unease - to cacophonous bangs, shrieks and crashes signalling the presence of some malevolent otherworldly entity entering the scene. Several moments, and carefully constructed jump-scares, really stand out. A couple of people sitting further along the row from my friends and I left the theatre (never to return!) after a spectacularly chilling, gasp-inducing moment involving a hooded bathrobe and the sudden appearance of a character who we previously thought was already on stage and in the scene... Flawless illusion effects and sleight of hand work by Chris Fisher and the appropriately named Spooky Nyman ensured this moment was as technically striking as it was spinetingling and terrifying. Moments after this, another particularly effective jump scare resulted in me wearing most of my plastic cup of red wine.

Director Felix Barett knows that simplicity is often more effective, and less is more. While there are a few thunderous moments of terror (not to mention various wine-spilling jump-scares), Paranormal Activity's strength is how it builds tension and unease, and its use of lighting and sound to render a perfectly cosy, domestic space – a sanctuary – a place of threat, creeping dread and lurking danger. Just like Oren Peli’s suggestive approach to directing the film all those years ago. Tension is cranked to unbearable levels when medium and podcast host Etheline Cotgrave (Jo Castleton) is called in to help the couple and leads them in a séance. When James’s well-meaning but overbearing mother Carolanne (Caroline Faber) arrives, things are kicked up a further notch as we race towards a terrifying conclusion.

My seat was way up in the rafters of the nose-bleed section which meant I wasn’t able to properly view the complete layout of the stage/house, but this wasn’t too detrimental. Glimpsing a spectral hand being placed gently on a shoulder, and the revelation of ghostly graffiti in the nursery, may have been denied to me by my limited view, but the lighting, sound effects and audience reaction to these moments were enough to turn my blood to icy slush.

While it may concern spooky things that go bump in the night, the play is also really about the gradual collapse of a marriage. Perhaps the most chilling thing about Paranormal Activity is how it quietly interrogates the idea that it’s never really possible to completely know someone, that even a spouse or loved one can have a side we never see, harbour secrets we’ll never know…

Paranormal Activity ran at the Theatre Royal Glasgow from Tue 22 Sep - Sat 26 Sep 2026. For more dates and venues across the UK, go here.