⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Creepy, tense and full of jump scares. Perfect for Halloween season.
Paranormal Activity (Seven! films so far, with another coming in 2027) has a new On Stage instalment to sit alongside your other spooky and creepy stage shows like The Woman In Black, Ghost Stories and 2:22. Just in time for Halloween, it is at The Alexandra in Birmingham, one of the most haunted places in Birmingham. Excellent planning.
As you may expect, Paranormal Activity relies on the audience knowing as little as possible before going in to the auditorium- so this review will remain spoiler free so you can enjoy the production as it is meant to be.
The production does away with the found footage style of the film series and instead looks to focus on tricks and illusions to thrill and jolt the audience. We open with Jimmy and Lou (James Bye and Hannah Sinclair Robinson respectively) in their new little house in England, having moved from Chicago. There is clearly important and serious reasons for the move implied in the conversations between Jimmy and Lou, but nothing too revealing just yet: these are just little appetisers for now.
As the curtain raises we are introduced to an incredible looking set, a bisected two floor cottage showing us the open plan ground floor and staircase, and a bathroom and bedroom upstairs with a closed door leading to the second bedroom. This brilliant set is used to great effect throughout with our cast moving around the house whilst being spooked and scared. The set design is really clever and imaginative with the lights of passing traffic bathing the windows in light at times, and the house looking authentically lived in and homely.
There is a lot of scene setting in the first 30 minutes or so, before the creepiness really starts to ramp up. The Illusions Designer, Chris Fisher, has previously worked on Stranger Things: The First Shadow – for which he won a Tony award for, The Hunger Games on Stage (we really enjoyed that one) and also Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (we’ve not seen that one but understand it is popular) so he clearly knows his stuff and his work with the staging, costuming and scripting is phenomenal. There are several moments where you and everybody else in the audience will be amazed at what has been put together. When you consider this has to be done live and in person, performance after performance, you realise just how good the staging is, how committed the cast and crew are, and how clever the creatives are.
You know what one of the most underrated but effective aspects of scary films and plays is? The sound. Gareth Fry is the sound designer here, and he drags us into the darkened and frightening world of Paranormal Activity with perfectly chosen music, a creepy and eerie score that does an excellent job of building dread and tension.
We really enjoyed Paranormal Activity. It is an excellently made production with brilliant stagecraft and direction that really spooks and scares the audience. The small and perfectly formed cast capture the growing despair, panic and fear of a couple desperately trying to make sense of what’s happening to them.
It is worth mentioning that on our performance on opening night there was a medical emergency in the auditorium that meant the play had to stop whilst an ambulance was called and the person involved was assisted: the cast handled it brilliantly though and once the lights went down again they hit their spot and were able to finish the final 3 minutes of the show as if nothing had happened. Fantastic professionalism from them, and of course The Alexandra staff too. We hope the person involved is okay and recovers quickly from whatever happened.
The delay to the finish did mean that we were unable to go on the special Ghost Tour of the theatre that had been organised for ATG+ members for after the show, which was an awful shame, but these things can’t be helped and someone’s health is more important than that (to note, the tour still went ahead as promised, just 70 minutes later, but we had to get back to our babysitter by 11:30pm). I really hope we get a chance to see more cool extra stuff from ATG+ as part of their annual membership.
On the subject of the ATG+ membership, it’s excellent value for the amount of things included. You can get exclusive ticket offers and savings. For Paranormal Activity you get £10 off on opening night and £7 off Monday to Thursday per ticket and you can book on the ghost tour for tonight, Thursday night or Friday night (you must have purchased tickets for the same night performance). And you can use it on up to 4 tickets with your one membership. You also save money on ticket fees and get to enjoy 25% off at the bar during Happy Hour (which is before 7pm).
Membership is £50 a year if purchased by Direct Debit. Perfect for theatre fans. Especially with the extra member events too that are available to book.
If you are interested in a membership, take a look here. Thought it was definitely worth a mention.
Paranormal Activity On Stage is at The Alexandra Theatre until Saturday 31 October 2026.
Disclaimer: I was invited along to the press opening of this production. All thoughts and opinions are entirely our own.