The Exorcism - November/December 2007

Tucked into a dark corner of the atmospheric Queenslander and damp from the rain that's still streaming over its timber roof, the world portrayed by the actors in Kucom's The Exorcism: A Christmas Ghost Story on Tuesday night was real enough to leave the hairs on my neck bristling.

Set in the group's moody playhouse (perfectly cast to house the haunted seventeenth-century cottage where the action takes place), featuring a strong cast of Kucom regulars (John Atkinson, Wayne Hughes, Bronwyn Grannall and Donna Priddle) and enhanced with clever lighting and set (and melodramatic weather outside), the story explores 'the world that lives in us' - and what would happen if that world 'in some way took over'.

From the early realisation that the characters' cheery Christmas in the country is not going to end well, the tension compounds - right up until the last, chilling moments.

That's not to say the performance is all doom and no glee - there are profound moments and even elements of comic relief, particularly from the effervescent and just a little uppity Margaret, played by Grannall.

But by the time the play reaches its eerie conclusion, there wouldn't be many in the audience who didn't feel at least some of the cold, creeping fear that increasingly grips the story's four ill-fated characters.

The Exorcism: A Christmas Ghost Story will be performed in the Kucom Theatre Playhouse, 361 Shakespeare Street, on November 16, 17, 21, 23, 24, 28 and 30 and December 1 at 8pm.  Tickets are available at the Mackay Entertainment Centre or at the door.