The Leper Chapel is, in all honesty, not the kind of place you particularly want to enter in the darkness of a chilly Saturday evening. Candles were the only source of light in this tiny, musty, crypt-like 12th century building, and the fact that there were only six people in the audience (three of whom I had brought with me) only added to the horrible feeling that this was not, in fact, a one-man-play by Theatre of the Damned, but the sorry end of a naive pack of Cambridge students about to be locked inside a chapel with a raving lunatic. This eerie atmosphere, achieved by the sinister venue and muted lighting, was one of the major strengths of the ‘play’ - unfortunately, these were few and far between.

Tom Richards’ performance is phenomenal; there is no denying that. His rich, varied elocution, direct engagement with the audience and masterful use of the space made it impossible for attentions to stray. However, the actual content of his ‘story about ghost stories’ left much to be desired. The first half of the performance seemed to stray bewilderingly between random, unconnected events and stories, the relationship between which was not revealed until the very end in a rather disappointing, nonsensical denouement. It seemed obvious that the troupe’s sole aim was to thoroughly creep out the audience through the use of graphic, disturbing imagery, without much in the way of intelligent, coherent storyline.

All in all, an interesting, well-directed venture away from the ordinary theatre experience available to us here at Cambridge, and proof that it is, in fact, possible to keep an audience engaged with a monologue lasting just over an hour. Yet, it is in urgent need of re-writing and polishing to make the actual plotline as unforgettable and spine-tingling as its unusual setting.

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