{"id":311071,"date":"2025-10-17T15:49:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-17T15:49:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/311071\/"},"modified":"2025-10-17T15:49:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T15:49:11","slug":"paranormal-activity-a-lesson-in-live-minimalist-terror","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/311071\/","title":{"rendered":"“Paranormal Activity” a lesson in live, minimalist terror"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chicago\u2019s own Levi Holloway has established himself as a leader in the horror-theater genre \u2014 yes, it\u2019s a thing. But what\u2019s great about \u201cParanormal Activity\u201d \u2014 the U.S. premiere now at Chicago Shakespeare Theater and soon headed to Los Angeles, Washington D.C. and San Francisco \u2014 is that this genre specialist has been paired with Felix Barrett. Barrett is the immersive maestro of the British company Punchdrunk and an artist demonstrably skilled in making audiences feel like they have been trapped in a pitch black room with a demon and cannot get out.<\/p>\n

So it goes with \u201cParanormal Activity,\u201d a show based on the Paramount Pictures movie franchise, which specializes in horror in intimate, domestic settings. The live stage version can\u2019t repeat old plots of course, so it comes with a fresh story about a young married couple (played by Cher \u00c1lvarez and Patrick Heusinger) who have moved from Chicago to London to escape their demons from past sins, only to find that \u2026<\/p>\n

Nobody wants to read some critic blathering on a horror show without answering the one thing most people will want to know: Will I be scared? And, if so, how scared?<\/p>\n

Yes. Very. Cleverly, too.<\/p>\n

And this is not some solo analysis. There were more screams, shouts and screeches floating around The Yard Theatre than at a City Hall budget hearing. On the night I was there, people were, to say the least, engaged.\u00a0 \u201cParanormal Activity,\u201d which also features juicy performances from the Chicago actors Shannon Cochran and Kate Fry, is intentionally a slow, dramatic burn. Like the film franchise (or at least the ones I\u2019ve seen), much care is taken here to establish characters making a desperate lunge for normalcy \u2014 in this case for a new life with maybe a kid on the way.<\/p>\n

A kid is on the way, it turns out, but not that kind of kid.<\/p>\n

This, by the way, is not parody horror. People laugh when they\u2019re scared, but this is not \u201cGet Out.\u201d Not the purpose. The purpose is an old-school scare.<\/p>\n

Better yet, this is an analog experience that well knows its biggest asset is the dislocation that an audience used to horror movies feels when it\u2019s being scared by actual humans (well, some actual, some not). There is no CGI nor digital trickery, at least not that one can perceive. Just doors that hide things, rooms with secrets, realistic props that take on lives of their own, all arrayed on an intentionally dull and realistic set by Fly Davis, evoking a house in the nation where this show was first seen. Aside from a more bankable title, \u201cParanormal Activity\u201d struck me in the end as a more effective show than Holloway\u2019s prior Broadway horror play \u201cGrey House,\u201d<\/a> which I liked, but that struggled with too much going on.<\/p>\n

\"CherCher \u00c1lvarez and Patrick Heusinger in “Paranormal Activity” in The Yard at Chicago Shakespeare Theater. (Kyle Flubacker)<\/p>\n

This one has a much sparser script. Here, the demons have all the time they need, and if you ever wanted to watch how blackouts can effectively be used in the theater, well, director Barrett offers a blueprint. The show, which is about to tour to those other cities, is in excellent technical shape and cleverly lights (and darkens) the house (which you can easily do at The Yard) to increase the immersive claustrophobia, despite the big theater. The two leads clearly have been directed to be as minimalist as possible, which, especially in the case of \u00c1lvarez, who under-vocalizes and is less emotionally demonstrative than ideal, sometimes lowers the blood pressure too much. But you can see the purpose when all hell lets loose.<\/p>\n

Note that this is an embrace-the-genre attraction, replete with a medium and most of the other familiar nomenclature. There\u2019s not a lot beyond that. (\u201cOak,\u201d<\/a> another new and scary show you currently can see at Raven Theatre, offers more social commentary with its jumps.) This is not one of Holloway\u2019s complex allegories. Au contraire. This is a Halloween show, a date show, a night out where you can draw your sweaty sweetie close.<\/p>\n

Although maybe also a show to make you wonder what past action of your own will one day come back to haunt your dreams.<\/p>\n

Chris Jones is a Tribune critic.<\/p>\n

cjones5@chicagotribune.com<\/p>\n

Review: \u201cParanormal Activity\u201d (3.5 stars)<\/strong><\/p>\n

When: Through Nov. 2<\/p>\n

Where: The Yard at Chicago Shakespeare Theater on Navy Pier, 800 E. Grand Ave.<\/p>\n

Running time: 2 hours, 5 minutes<\/p>\n

Tickets: $62-$115 at 312-295-5600 and chicagoshakes.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Originally Published: October 17, 2025 at 10:06 AM CDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chicago\u2019s own Levi Holloway has established himself as a leader in the horror-theater genre \u2014 yes, it\u2019s a…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":311072,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[960,171,5386,1818,1370,1148,1072],"class_list":{"0":"post-311071","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago","8":"tag-chicago","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-il","11":"tag-illinois","12":"tag-latest-headlines","13":"tag-theater","14":"tag-things-to-do"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115390301591174128","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311071","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=311071"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311071\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/311072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=311071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=311071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=311071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}