Writer: Noah McCreadie
Director: Hannah McLeod & Noah McCreadie
Reviewer: Christine Stanton
“Annoyingly Ambiguous“
2 / 5
Bella and Wendy are hiding out in their flat, desperately trying to come up with the next stage of their plan to try and get themselves out of trouble. But they’ve done something unthinkable, and while Bella seems to have disassociated, Wendy is emboldened and willing to take things even further.
The premise for Noah McCreadie’s The Glass House is an exciting one – full of intensity and mystery, but unfortunately, although there are glimmers of intrigue in the execution, the majority of it is disjointed and confusing, leaning too heavily into the ambiguity without giving anything substantial leading up to the final moments to make the payoff of the reveal worthwhile.
When Bella (Harriet Cantello) and Wendy (Kitty Evans) are first introduced, the time period is unclear – their outfits old-fashioned and non-descript, the steel buckets littered across the stage giving the audience an assumption that the pair are in a farm house in the 1500s as opposed to a modern day flat in Bromley. It’s only later in the narrative when Detective Josie James (Hannah McLeod) brandishes her reusable coffee cup that it’s clear it’s closer to present day. While this isn’t a huge thing, it’s one of many small curiosities, that add up to a confusing rather than convincing production.
The overarching storyline is that the girls have killed a couple, kidnapped a baby and are hiding out in the house in the hopes they won’t get caught. Kai (Noah McCreadie) does his usual visit to collect the rent and grab a sexual favour from Wendy at the same time, but instead Bella tricks him (under the encouragement of Wendy) to sleep with her instead, blackmailing him for being underage as a way of getting out of paying for the rent. Wendy’s reign of terror continues as she plans a terrorist attack on a local theatre, with all hopes riding on the local Detective to catch her before the act. It’s a busy narrative, with a lot of ideas, that don’t have enough weight to fully explain them, with a lot of inconsistencies, questionable motives and unanswered questions lingering after the final scenes.
There are some clues as to the reasoning behind their actions – mostly seeming to be Wendy being drugged up and psychotic, obsessed with holding control over Bella, as most of her actions seem to lead back to being in charge in some way. From firing over orders, keeping Bella in the dark for most of the decisions, and then leaving the bathroom door locked and forcing Bella to defecate out of their window – (even though it’s above a deli and there are tons of empty buckets that surely would have been more suitable?!) The premise states it’s mainly based around a need for acceptance, but that doesn’t translate well into the final production.
McCreadie maintains a dark tone throughout the sinister story, which successfully adds to the mystery and tension. McLeod as Detective James adds an enjoyable and unexpected burst of humour into the script, her cheery ‘local copper’ manner and general approach to her questioning is comedic, and helps add a different layer to the otherwise intense and serious script. Evans portrays the overtly unhinged, maniacal Wendy well, while Cantello’s detached innocence with glimmers of darkness, helps showcase her underlying psychosis in a completely different way to Wendy, making their twisted personalities balance interestingly against each other.
This is a production that definitely has legs, but needs a bit more work tightening up some of the loose ends and vague motives before it can be fully enjoyed as the dark thriller it is intended to be.
Runs until 23rd November 2024
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