The Exorcist

The Exorcist

CCADS Theatre

Station Theatre, Hayling Island

11th-14th September 2024

Something wrong with Regan...but she is not alone

CCADS Theatre are back on Hayling Island and this time they are starting the spooky season early with John Pielmeier's adaptation of William Peter Blatty's 1970 novel 'The Exorcist'.

While I am more familiar with the 1973 film written by the books author himself and directed by Hollywood legend William Friedkin, I had never read the original novel so I cannot speak for how faithful the script is to the book.

However this production (the first UK non-professional production) was slick, tense and very very uneasy.

First let's talk about the production design.

With lighting and projection/video design by Tony Neal and sound design by Aaron Hayes, this show was incredibly slick. The lighting was always on point and really added to the tension. The projections added to story really well and allowed us to visualize all the demonic visions that the demon used to weaken it's enemies.

The sound added to the unease and absolutely had me tensing every time.

Now, let's talk about the absolutely stellar cast.

Becky Garnett takes on the role of 12-year old Regan (made famous in the film by Linda Blair)

Becky completely embodies this role, starting of as the sweet and innocent young girl before becoming possessed and turning into something more sinister.

This is not an easy role but Becky captured everything and slipped into the part with ease.

Paul Goldthorpe plays Father Damian, a young priest who is suffering from a lack of faith and still mourning the loss of his mother. Paul was splendid and had me hooked on every word he said, every emotion he portrayed.

Caroline Westmorland plays Regan's mother and actress Chris. Every time I see Caroline in a show, I believe she can never top it and every time I'm proven wrong. Caroline is so believable in her stress and her fear of possibly losing her daughter that you just wan to tell her everything will be okay. Once again she knocks it out of the park.

Paul Tully plays Father Merrin, another priest who has previously come into contact with the demon possessing Reagan. Whilst not on-stage for very long, Paul certainly makes his mark as you can feel how shaken his is from his last encounter with the demon and how much he really want's to be rid of the hurt and nightmares.

Special mentions to Conner Handstock and Tony Dart who play Father Joe & Burke respectively With Tony adding some much needed comic relief every now and then and Conner being the perfect right hand man to Paul's Damian.

John-Paul McCrohon directed this piece perfectly. Nothing felt out of place and every little action added to the performances. The ending in particular was nothing short of breath-taking. The final battle was absolute sensory overload in the best possible way.

Once again CCADS have proven why they are on of Hampshire's premier Am-Dram companies.

I highly recommend this production that runs at The Station Theatre, Hayling Island this week until Saturday 14th

Five Stars

*****

Declan Robertson