Theatre review: Stranger Things: The First Shadow

Netflix branch out from streaming to producing live theatre, but this new play is a spin-off from their tentpole Stranger Things, so there isn't too much fear that it'll get cancelled during the interval for not getting enough Instagram traction. The TV series is a 1980s nostalgia-tinged sci-fi/fantasy story about teenagers getting caught up in deadly adventures when their small town's reality starts bleeding into an alternate dimension known as The Upside Down. The First Shadow is a prequel that does the same for some of the central adult characters, taking them back to their high school days in the 1950s and making them face the first signs of a supernatural incursion into Hawkins, Indiana. In particular, the play serves as the backstory of the series' Big Bad, Henry Creel. But first there's a pre-credits sequence because yeah, when the credits are as iconic as Stranger Things' they're going to roll on stage as well.

So in a spectacular opening scene we see a World War II submarine, experimenting with things it shouldn't, crash into another dimension, opening the door for cameos from some of the series' more memorable monsters.

Then we jump to the main action in 1959 and the Creel family moving to Hawkins from Nevada, which they had to flee after some unspecified unpleasantness from Henry (Louis McCartney.) Henry's a shy and awkward teenager who doesn't superficially seem like he could hurt a fly. He and Patty Newby (Ella Karuna Williams) are instantly attracted to each other as outsiders - she's the Principal's (Matthew Pidgeon) adopted, mixed-race daughter, whose mysterious origins make her a bullying target. Not only do the pair tentatively start to date, but Henry also confesses his supernatursal secret, which he describes as his nightmares becoming real.

In fact his power is more like a deadly combination of telekinesis and astral projection, and like many serial killers he's started using it to kill animals. When dodgy scientist Dr Brenner (Patrick Vaill) finds out about Henry's secret, he convinces him to come to a military base for treatment, in fact a series of brutal experiments into turning him into a supernatural killing machine. One of the show's regular writers, Kate Trefry's debut stage play is credited as coming from a story by Trefry, the Duffer Brothers plus an old hand at handling theatrical juggernauts, Jack Thorne. Although the show's creators having conceived the story barely needs crediting - after all we know the Duffer Brothers came up with Henry's backstory, they've already told it in flashback in Season 4.

So there's a weird sense of redundancy to The First Shadow; obviously any stage spin-off needed to be a standalone story that wasn't going to be required for TV viewers to understand the final season, but at the same time it's odd that the most successful element of the story (McCartney is absolutely terrific in his professional debut, with real chemistry in his scenes with Williams, a mix of vulnerability and menace in those with Vaill, and a creepily jerky physicality as his darker side takes over - props to movement director Lynne Page who effectively brings the screen's signature body horror to the stage) is just a lengthier retread of what we already know.

But there is a lot more to the show - inarguably too much, with the other main stories featuring three of the most beloved adult characters from the series: Isabella Pappas (who from the back row at least is an uncanny ringer for Winona Ryder) as Joyce, Oscar Lloyd as Hopper, and Christopher Buckley as Bob investigating the pet killings. It's something the show needs both to lighten the grisly central story and to recreate the series' Goonies-inspired style, but it's also hampered by them not actually being able to get to the bottom of anything, or their adult selves would know too much in the 1980s.

And then there's another major plot that's meant to tie everything together, but ends up getting far too much attention in itself: Joyce directing a school play (I thought the cheesy proto-Twilight monstrosity they're rehearsing was meant to be something she'd cobbled together, but apparently Dark of the Moon actually exists*.) This serves as a nod to the series' large cast of supporting characters, and feels like the element that could most easily have been trimmed down. There's definitely a general feeling of being overwhelmed by the kitchen sink being thrown at the stage, but it's particularly true of the vast amount of teenage characters we're introduced to, who clearly won't all get time to do anything interesting. The young cast is good and I'm sure there's some future big names among them, but out of the supporting cast only Max Harwood gets a chance to make his mark, Eddie Munson's dad Alan proving that taking their passions incredibly seriously runs in the family (in his case it's Method acting.)

Stephen Daldry, who directs with Justin Martin, is apparently a huge Stranger Things fan who instigated this stage version, and if there's a central weakness it's this desire to do all the fanservice humanly possible. It leads to a hefty running time - no surprise in the world of the infamous 2-and-a-half-hour episode of TV, but in the uncomfortable seats of the Phoenix it means it didn't matter how big a fan anyone was, there were still people leaving their seats by the end, either to give up entirely, or to go stand and watch from the back of the Grand Circle†.

What never disappoints is the visual element though. Special props to set designer Miriam Buether: A lot of the special effects rely on McCartney interacting with 59 Productions' video design, so as well as getting a submarine to teleport onstage, she's also made a subtler contribution in the screen-wipe effect that brings the necessary clear projection screen on and off stage without it being too clunky. Jon Clark's lighting, Jamie Harrison and Chris Fisher's illusions and Paul Arditti’s sound design all contribute to the evening's effectiveness, but the standout visual has to be one of the climactic ones, in a spectacular slo-mo stunt scene.

So The First Shadow brings almost everything you associate with Stranger Things to the stage, including Too Much. (One thing it can't do is the '80s nostalgia; the '50s version we get instead is fine, but its heart's not in it in the way it is for the period the Duffers were actually inspired by.) As well as all that's actually there you're always wondering if you're missing other Easter eggs (is Bob's choice of slippers a nod to his on-screen counterpart being played by a hobbit?) I can't imagine anyone other than the most obsessive fan feeling like there was anything missed out, but there's certainly a better show in here that might have focused more on being a play in its own right, less on ticking every fan favourite off the list. (And it might have ended with the audience walking out of the auditorium, rather than staggering wildly as they wait for the blood to start flowing in their legs again.)

Stranger Things: The First Shadow by Kate Trefry, based on a story by Kate Trefry, the Duffer Brothers and Jack Thorne, is booking until the 25th of August at the Phoenix Theatre.

Running time: 3 hours 10 minutes including interval.

Photo credit: Manuel Harlan.

*and now that it's been highlighted in such a high-profile show someone's bound to revive it; is it wrong that I kind of want it to happen so I can see just how bad/mad it is?

†the Grand Circle gents' loos at the Phoenix are accessible via the bar, which closes after the interval, so even after a 3+ hour show there's no gents' available. In unrelated news, the street outside the Grand Circle entrance/exit reeks of piss.