Adapted for the stage by Jack Thorne

Based on the novel and film by John Ajvide Lindqvist

Starring Peter MacHale and Rhian Blundell  

Directed by Bryony Shanahan

Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester until November 19, 2022

 

Spoilers ahoy, but this is a well-known story for genre lovers.

Oskar, a bullied 12-year-old, befriends the mysterious young girl who moves in next door, before discovering her disturbing secret.  

There’s a reason why John Ajvide Lindqvist called his dark, brilliant Swedish vampire tale, Let The Right One In. Behind this title lies a choice; the suggestion of a question. It’s not simply about vampires needing to be invited over the threshold. Lindqvist is asking, who should neglected, bullied Oskar let into his life? Who can he trust? Who can he love? And crucially, who is his new friend Eli? Given the considerable heritage of the source material, I’m assuming it’s not a spoiler to reveal that Eli is a vampire – that’s the premise – but what sort of vampire is she?

Is Eli a lonely ancient creature wanting nothing more than to be a child, loving and yearning to be loved? Or, is she/he/it an evil, predatory parasite with a paedophilic ability to manipulate young vulnerable hosts, one after another, over the centuries?

In Bryony Shanahan’s new stage production at Manchester’s Royal Exchange theatre, the answer is never in doubt. The director has clearly opted for the former from the word go. To be fair, that doesn’t stop this production being engaging and entertaining, playing out as a sort of teenage vampire romance, but it does strip the story of the layered, dark ambivalence that makes Lindqvist’s original – and Jack Thorne’s painfully sparse stage script – so utterly compelling. It also undermines the fundamental dramatic question that we should still be asking right to the final scene.  We should be deeply unsettled by the choices Oskar is forced to make, but instead, in this production, the conclusion is a purely romantic one.

The press night audience found much of the production gleefully amusing. Uncomfortable laughter would have been fine, but because there is so little emotional jeopardy for Oskar here, we were being asked to laugh on his side, again denuding Jack Thorne’s script of its emotional complexity.

It was also a strangely sexless production. Yes, Oskar is a pre-pubescent 12-year-old, and, for Eli, a vampire, sexuality is a means to an end, but the possibility of sex – a sex that dare not speak its name – is right at the core of what the novel, film and Thorne’s script are about, most notably once we start fully to understand Eli’s relationship with the man everyone presumes to be her father. But here, Shanahan has chosen to mistake this sexlessness for innocence, and that’s not what Let the Right One In is about at all. Thorne is quite specific in his stage directions and it was a shame that at key moments these seem to have been ignored.

And what happened to the ‘spectacular’ jewelled egg that perhaps holds the key to Eli’s power? And what of the moment when blood is supposed to ooze from her skin? These were just two of many crucial dramatic turns that went for nothing in this staging. They are certainly technically challenging, but the script asks a director to find an imaginative way of presenting these moments. I was disappointed that a theatre, with the resources of Manchester’s Royal Exchange, didn’t look for more ingenious solutions to have us catching our collective breath.

Despite these shortcomings, it is, without doubt an evening that holds your attention and rattles by at breakneck speed. There’s a lot of rushing round with the furniture to realise the different locations, quite a bit of which could have been simplified or finessed in order to allow some of the more tender scenes time to breathe.

There are definitely praises to sing. The young cast are terrific and give it their hearts. Pete MacHale is wonderful as Oskar, and pitches his ‘child’ acting with intelligent perfection. Rhian Blundell as Eli is clearly a very capable performer, but I would have loved to have seen her explore the complex history, the non-human physicality and multi-layered nature of that character a lot more. I’m absolutely sure she has the acting chops to do that.

Verdict: For all that I would question the choices that have been made here, I would urge Sci-Fi Bulletin readers in the North West to go and see this production. It’s hugely refreshing to see theatre taking on genre stories, especially ones that ask the kinds of questions posed by Let The Right One In. It deserves to be supported and while you may or may not share my reservations, you will have an enjoyable, thought provoking night in the theatre. 6/10

Martin Jameson