ICFTI SUPAS review

‘It Came From The Ice’ is an original cosmic horror by Luke Hookham, inspired by the 1982 horror film ‘The Thing’, where a group of researchers, deep in Antarctica, have just managed to survive a nasty snow storm. However, when arriving back at their ‘base’, strange events start occurring, with a new presence being felt amongst the researchers. Something they found in the ice has now caught onto them, and starts haunting each character one by one. Throughout the play, we see each character struggle with what they perceive to be real and what is not, with this ‘other-worldly’ creature slowly taking over each one of the researchers.

Firstly, I would like to congratulate Louis Josa and Lucy Davies on a brilliant set design, which truly encapsulated the feel of being within an isolated Antarctic research station. It involved a few flats that had been painted to be white panels, very realistic of what a station such as this would look like, with posters dotted around showcasing motivational quotes such as the traditional ‘we can do it’ graphic, almost ironic of the clearly hopeless and frightened characters within the play.

The play itself is dramatic and includes many twists and turns, which entises us as an audience to see where the story goes and how this supernatural ‘monster’ will take over each of the characters. However, it did take me quite a while to realise this is what was happening and I think Hookham could have provided more clarity from the very start on what ‘thing’ the characters were up against.

The play’s first character to be ‘taken over’ by this supernatural creature is Angela, played by Barbara Ann Mclaughlin. She suddenly leaves the stage and goes through the emergency exit door, signifying she has died within the deadly snow storm. This initial turning point in the play instilled a sense of curiosity in me of what this ‘thing’ was that was now embedded within the characters, intriguing me to see who it would clamp onto next. After this, Angela appears at different intervals within the play, with her presence harrowing the other characters. Mclaughlin successfully portrayed a haunting and frightening character within these moments, which I enjoyed very much.

Sam Bevan, playing Gary also carried this same sinister energy, at moments when he too is taken over by the ‘thing’. Bevan would clearly and instantly portray a different posture and vocal tone when this occurred, demonstrating the power of the ‘thing’ to the audience. I found that these transitions when other characters were taken over by ‘the thing’ sometimes lacked clarity, with other actors benefitting from an even bigger and instant contrast in physicality or vocals. I did appreciate, however, the subtle lighting flicker, which lighting designer Adam Rajczakowski nicely added when characters were ‘taken over’, however I felt this needed more consistency throughout the show. Bevan is a strong actor, who clearly portrayed a straight-talking and upfront man, and I thoroughly enjoyed his performance.

A standout moment for me was when Sarah, played by Immy Eyre, gets taken over by ‘the thing’, which ends up with her gouging her eye out. Immy made this look remarkably realistic, with blood suddenly spilling from it, and I still don’t know how it was done! This shocking moment was followed by Immy wearing a bloody bandage on her head for the rest of the show, which contributed to the overall heightened atmosphere, a good choice from costume designer Ayda Evren. After this moment, Sarah becomes extremely panicked and fearful, with the ‘thing’ surrounding her, unable to escape from it. Immy’s powerful acting here instilled a sense of sympathy within the audience, as we see her break down in deep fear.

The character of Paul begins fairly quiet and introverted and escalates into a terrifying monster by the end of the play. Imogen Keer demonstrated this shift brilliantly, and gave a strong and believable performance throughout. Especially towards the beginning of the play, a larger range in tonality and volume would have been appreciated on certain lines, however this didn’t majorly take away from the impressive performance Keer gave throughout.

Charlie, played by Alex Mackie, is different from most of the characters, with theirs being extremely confident, and almost arrogant from the beginning of the play. I think it was a good choice to have a more outspoken and loud character, as it adds more of a dynamic to the plot and play. It is shown Charlie clearly has a dislike to Paul, which Mackie portrayed strongly, however I found Mackie’s delivery of lines to not always be consistent and sometimes lacked subsidence, with their diction on some not always being great. It also would have been nice to have had a little more background on why Charlie hated Paul so much, as it felt a bit unexplained of where this deep hatred came from. Nevertheless, I greatly appreciated Mackie’s aggressive performance that added to the tense atmosphere at parts within the play.

Another moment I found extremely effective was towards the end, when the house lights came on, and one of the characters questioned why we, as the audience, were sitting watching them. Hookham’s choice to do this is greatly appreciated, as it not only immersed us within the action even further, but created a sense that the characters were truly trapped in this ‘new world’ they found themselves in, which we are looking in on as observers.

The use of sound in the show, designed by Mason Lugh, helped push the chilling story and its plot along. For the majority of the play, the sound of strong winds from the snow storm was played, which I found extremely effective, constantly reminding both the characters and the audience of the danger that lay outside, contributing to the unsettling atmosphere. Other sound effects such as the voice overs during the playing of the cassette were very effective and added to the tension of the scene. The many technical elements of the show also greatly contributed to this sinister tone and production manager Phil Saxby should be applauded in their efforts to create this.

Overall, Hookham’s play ‘It Came From The Ice’ was an entertaining watch, with all actors contributing to the horrific nature of the play. Both director and writer, Luke Hookham as well as assistant director Darcey Severne should be commended for this, and for successfullyputting it together.