{"id":31592,"date":"2023-12-14T22:29:21","date_gmt":"2023-12-14T22:29:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/onelidlesseye.com\/?p=31592"},"modified":"2023-12-14T22:29:21","modified_gmt":"2023-12-14T22:29:21","slug":"stranger-things-the-first-shadow-review-by-luke-jones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/onelidlesseye.com\/celebrity\/stranger-things-the-first-shadow-review-by-luke-jones\/","title":{"rendered":"Stranger Things: The First Shadow review by LUKE JONES"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1> Stranger Things: The First Shadow review &#8211; Monstrous double visions, flying cats and exploding rats&#8230; This show is thrillingly done, writes LUKE JONES<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>READ MORE: Meg Bellamy joins Ed McVey at Stranger Things: The First Shadow\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Stranger Things: The First Shadow\u00a0<\/h2>\n<p>Phoenix Theatre, London<\/p>\n<p><strong>Rating: <strong><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/i\/articles\/ratingStars\/rating_showbiz_4.gif\" width=\"55\" \/><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Barely five minutes into this show, a punchy blast of smoke whooshes through my hair \u2013 and supernatural fragments drift from the ceiling and into my gin &amp; slim.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;d just got out of my coat before there are gunshots, a screaming toothy monster and a giant sinking warship. But I settle down, confident I&#8217;m in safe theatrical hands.<\/p>\n<p>Yes, it&#8217;s Netflix milking a brand. Yes, it&#8217;s the West End indulging in a screen favourite instead of promoting something new.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>But it&#8217;s thrillingly done \u2013 magic and dramatic.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>For\u00a0Stranger Things virgins, or those who enjoyed the show and forgot it (me), this is very handily a prequel. I heard superfans &#8216;ah-ha&#8217; at references that passed me by. But newbies are well catered for.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/14\/21\/78978161-12865895-image-a-78_1702588383249.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;d just got out of my coat before there are gunshots, a screaming toothy monster and a giant sinking warship. But I settle down, confident I&#8217;m in safe theatrical hands<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/14\/21\/78978163-12865895-image-a-79_1702588388443.jpg\" height=\"476\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Barely five minutes into this show, a punchy blast of smoke whooshes through my hair \u2013 and supernatural fragments drift from the ceiling and into my gin &amp; slim<\/p>\n<p>Did I fully understand the plot? Absolutely not. Did it matter? Also no. We&#8217;re in the States, in the small town of Hawkins, in the late fifties. Young Henry Creel has moved here with his family.<\/p>\n<p>The nosebleed-inducing visions of another world quickly mark him out as not quite right. Classic puberty this is not. Everything goes up a gear when he befriends Patty Newby and they&#8217;re cast as lovers in the school play.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The beast stalking Henry&#8217;s alternative dimension soon goes from haunting to killing and the teenage versions of Joyce, Hopper and Lonnie (seen as adults in the TV series) set about investigating the deaths.<\/p>\n<p>At one point they use the school play to trap a suspect (a Hamlet reference I could loudly &#8216;ah-ha&#8217; to&#8230; one up on the superfans).<\/p>\n<p>Every penny of your exorbitant ticket price is there on stage. There&#8217;s a Vegas dream sequence, a flying cat that meets a sticky end, an exploding rat, terrifying slow motion falls. Bodies shoot through the ceiling, single characters appear twice before you.<\/p>\n<p>Things could not be stranger. In one moment you see an actor&#8217;s sweet face\u2026 then, with one turn of the head, they become monstrous and bloody. It&#8217;s deft and dazzling.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/14\/21\/78978183-12865895-Searching_Isabella_Pappas_as_Joyce_Oscar_Lloyd_as_Hopper_and_Chr-a-58_1702590870609.jpg\" height=\"359\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Searching: Isabella Pappas as Joyce, Oscar Lloyd as Hopper and Chris Buckley as Bob Newby, right<\/p>\n<p>This could feel like a theme park ride were it not for a witty script by Kate Trefry and outstanding lead performances. Ella Karuna Williams as Patty and Louis McCartney as Henry are (unbelievably) making their professional stage debuts.<\/p>\n<p>They brilliantly embody painful lives. McCartney nails the cold but terrified look of a disturbed child trying to fight his way out of it.<\/p>\n<p>Stephen Daldry, having directed The Crown and Billy Elliot, marries Netflix largesse with West End substance. &#8216;Prepare to excite your inner 14-year-old,&#8217; he said to me pre-show, helping himself to the bar like he owned the place. If this goes down well, he probably will.<\/p>\n<p>A nimble set with a revolve keeps things pacey and almost televisual, albeit three hours long. I flagged a couple of times. But the spectacle is an exciting reminder of what theatre, at its most magical, can do.<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/tvshowbiz\/article-12865895\/stranger-things-shadow-review.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Stranger Things: The First Shadow review &#8211; Monstrous double visions, flying cats and exploding rats&#8230; This show is thrillingly done, writes LUKE JONES READ MORE: Meg Bellamy joins Ed McVey at Stranger Things: The First Shadow\u00a0 Stranger Things: The First Shadow\u00a0 Phoenix Theatre, London Rating: Barely five minutes into this show, a punchy blast of smoke whooshes through my hair [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Stranger Things: The First Shadow review by LUKE JONES - onelidlesseye.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/onelidlesseye.com\/celebrity\/stranger-things-the-first-shadow-review-by-luke-jones\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Stranger Things: The First Shadow review by LUKE JONES - onelidlesseye.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Stranger Things: The First Shadow review &#8211; 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