Have you ever seen Children of the Corn and wondered: ‘What if someone took all the cornfield murders and set them in an apocalyptic world while also replacing the religious cult with a nice old couple and some psychics?' Then you would have Bloodletting, the first main Mermaids show of the year, which also has the dignity of being set in the big and beautiful Byre mainstage. And I’m being facetious. The only things Bloodletting really has in common with Children of the Corn is that their slashers set in American midwestern corn fields—but that is comparison enough.
Student-written Bloodletting crams more ideas into its 105-minute runtime than the number of conflicting thesis statements in my poor overburdened essay (due on Friday if you care). My best attempt at a brief summary is as follows: in a North America crippled by a corn blight, a mother and her three daughters arrive at a remote farm in the Midwest. The farm is inhabited by a family of three and several ghosts who lurk around in the cornfield, seducing the eldest daughter or making pithy observations about the living that are the closest thing this play gets to comic relief. The ante is upped as more and more of the characters begin to see ghosts, the visiting mother Jenny (Elise Siddiqui) grows overly distressed about her lack of connection to her daughters, the old married couple (Buster Ratcliffe van der Geest and Hannah Doran) bicker over long buried woes, and the blight begins to invade what seemed like a sanctuary.
What’s there is compelling, even if some of the twists are predictable. The atmosphere is delightfully creepy, and when blood begins to flow the play isn’t afraid to become a proper slasher. The final showdown between broken and psychotic characters is pretty good, and the ample use of stage blood is excellent. The problem is just how much the show tries to cram in.
It's not bad to have a lot to say: I applaud Melville for her ambition. But Bloodletting struggles to showcase each of the characters’ stories to a full extent, instead giving us whiplash as it crams everyone’s stories in. More often than not, characters and relationships feel underbaked, or worse completely thrown out the window. The second act is stronger than the first for the simple reason it focuses on a handful of key characters and their stories, at the expense of side characters disappearing from the stage entirely other than for a scant few minutes. That’s not to say that every play has to give every character a full and complete character arc: it’s just that in a play that sets up so many different personalities and backstories, it would be nice to get to know them a little better before they meet their grisly end.
Being set in America, this play offers a rare but fabulous chance to see one of my favourite natural phenomena: British actors attempting an American accent. Happily (or unhappily, depending on your outlook), they are actually not bad. There are a few slips here and there, but nothing overly egregious. The acting is similarly solid: van der Geest and Doran are the standouts for their layered depiction of a troubled marriage, despite a lack of stage time. Siddiqui was rushed and wooden in her line reads with fellow actors, but shone in her monologues later in the show—perhaps it was nerves that will improve on the second night. Lila Patterson, Libby Mullen, and Anya Tockman play the visiting daughters satisfactorily: Patterson especially did a lovely ‘traumatised young woman’, but the latter two suffer from underuse in such a large cast. The ghosts ham it up so much it almost becomes funny, which I hope was the intention.
The staging might just be the star of the show, since it creates that atmosphere that the horror is so drenched in. The centrepiece is several rows of wooden corn stalks, topped with 423 leaves that were cut, folded, and painted by hand. That takes up stage left, while stage right is a farmhouse decorated with candles and a stuffed badger named Ethel who gets her own ovation during curtain call (you just have to be there). The candles continue to emit a golden glow even during blackouts, which adds a nice touch to the rural mood. The show also makes ample use of the fog machine, which looks great from the high seats at the back Mermaids comps the reviewers.
Bloodletting runs for one more night at the Byre, and is perfectly fine entertainment if you’re searching for a mindless slasher (it’s a pity the show didn’t run on Halloween). Is it the cleverest, most engaging story in the world? No. Does it flesh out the characters as much as you’d like them to? Also no. But it does culminate in screaming, crying, and axe murder, which might be just what you need after crashing out on your pre-break deadlines.
This was a mostly interesting review, except for the last paragraph where it completely goes off the rails. Saying such targeted and mean things about a student-written show is just sad. Do better Callisto.