Written by Evan Neiden 

Review by Hunter King

Candle House Collective

Imagine if you will, you’re a customer service representative and it’s time for your first shift, when you get a call that will not only wreck your evening, but may put you in peril. This is the concept of Candle House Collective’s play Claws. 

The gimmick itself of being a responsive show with a live actor on the other end of the phone talking to you as the sole audience member is an interesting one for sure. Candle House sends all new “employees” an orientation tape and clear instructions of how to participate in the show, all of which builds a sense of anticipation that simultaneously is incredibly exciting for the participant, and somewhat dangerous on Candle House’s end; after all, much anticipation requires much satisfaction.

Living in Edinburgh, it was interesting from the beginning as Candle House Collective is an American theatre group, and thus reviewing a show that was happening thousands of miles away was strange enough in itself, but with the change in time zones it was also a shift in mentality, reviewing a show at 1:00am my time (8:00pm the previous day for the actor on the other end of the line). 

I think one of the biggest hurdles that Claws faces is that it takes a well known premise and uses the interactivity as the piece that should subvert expectations. The show itself follows a simple premise: you (a customer service representative) receive a call from Danny (either played by Malachi Madrone or Cole Steeves, but there is no real way to know which), who says that he has trapped a monster in his closet. Pretty quickly Danny lets you know that the monster is pretending to be him, and after a series of unfortunate events and a lot of saying “I believe you” you’re stuck in the classic conundrum of not knowing who the real Danny is. 

The actor on the other end of the line does a convincing job, despite not always sounding like a 16 year old (something I’m willing to look past, I’m just hyper-aware of how they sound as an ex-teacher). With that said, the performance itself was exceptionally well done, especially as the voice on the other end of the line played two distinct versions of the same character. The voice interacts well, but has some prompts that seem to be a bit shoehorned in, trying to get some personal information from the audience that will surely be used against you later (something that is predictable at the moment they ask… otherwise I wouldn’t be too sure why Danny would want to know my Dad’s name.) 

There were moments over the phone where the whole situation did start to feel real, but throughout the call some unrealistic elements left me realising that I was in the safety of my isolated and properly dimmed (per request) bedroom. I think this can be boiled down to a concept that is best encapsulated by Peter Brook, who set the standard for the way that modern theatre practitioners think of a stage. While over the phone we had a bodily co-presence and interactive communication, the lack of a shared space left a hole that was almost filled through the performance, but never managed to quite be a shared space. 

While I had a fun time, the weight of the show never felt serious enough to truly frighten. I may be a bit numb to horror overall, and certainly picked up on some of the theatrical tricks over the phone, but some moments (including one moment of very good mimicry) showed an effort that kept the show alive in my head. All of this is to say, as an experimental and new way of storytelling Claws is innovative and a very fun experience, that could perhaps use a bit of revision but worthwhile overall and can open the (closet) door to much, much more.

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