York Dungeon Launches Their Spookiest Halloween Show Yet!
York Dungeon is set to launch a spooktacular new show this coming Saturday October 7th as York’s darkest attraction prepares to transform into the Home of Halloween!
The Grey Lady tells the story of a tragic love affair between a young nun and a patient in the former St. Leonards Hospital which once stood where York’s Theatre Royal now stands;
“Set in York Theatre Royal, built in 1744 on the site of the medieval St Leonard’s Hospital, you will learn of the forbidden love of demure young nun Florence and her nobleman patient.
After being discovered by the enraged Mother Superior, Florence was imprisoned, walled up in a windowless room; the nun’s eternal tomb.
Her body was found after years of searching but her spirit remains amongst the walls of the Theatre, known as The Grey Lady. It is said that on the opening night of a new show, she will appear.”
Last night (Tuesday October 3rd) we were very lucky to be invited along to experience the attraction’s new show for ourselves as part of the Visit York Halloween Preview Night.
What Can You Expect?
The Grey Lady – written and directed by Olivia Cole, York Dungeon’s Performance Manager follows the traditional formula of your classic ghost story.
A mixture of well timed acting, physical effects and miss direction helps to deliver a show fitting of the standard you’d expect from the attraction’s usual story telling methods.
Although the set itself is fairly minimal and the setting quite compact, the performer uses the space to their advantage for some classic ‘in your face’ scares.
The story is told through the use of two actors (an actor and an actress) and prerecorded audio which gives the illusion of being in a theatre (as is intended).
The main set itself is very front focal and guests are seated in rows from back to front (just as if you were all sat in a theatre).
The Grey Lady also employs similar scripting methods to that of other shows at the York Dungeon such as 35 Stonegate and Curse of the Witch.
Expect a plenty of miss direction, well timed drops into darkness and fantastic acting throughout.
What Did We Think?
Naturally, when it comes to telling a story fitting of Halloween, everybody loves a good ghost story don’t they?
Well, The Grey Lady is exactly that – a well told ghost story. York Dungeon’s new show puts you the guest into the heart of the story as the events themselves unfold around you.
A mixture of perfect scripting, great acting and heavy attention to detail helps to deliver a show fitting of a Halloween launch and by far beats all other shows this year for it’s intrigue.
The Grey Lady is also an additional show too and doesn’t replace any pre-existing show (unlike Rotten Royals and this year’s Tudor focused retelling of York’s infamous execution show).
The scene itself follows Curse of the Witch and takes place prior to Dick Turpin. This is where things (in our opinion) need a little further attention.
After building a considerable amount of tension through the theatre steward’s performance the main finale itself feels over far too quickly.
The use of quick paced actor changes and drops into darkness does work well, however (like Molly Leigh at Alton Towers & The Witch show at Blackpool) we would like to see the inclusion of more special & physical effects prior to the BIG scare.
The Grey Lady’s sudden appearence does pack the right amount of impact and her placement will certainly have guests screaming, but we would like to see more attention paid to building tension prior to the pay off.
Should You Check Out The Grey Lady This Halloween?
Absolutely! Despite the points raised above The Grey Lady is the perfect new show to welcome in this year’s Spooky Season!
It’s intimate setting mixed with the actor’s performance helps deliver a show you and the family won’t soon forget and will certainly have you jumping out of your skin.
Although the story itself is a dark one the show itself still manages to keep scares at a family friendly level (as per the rest of the attraction) and for this reason although jumpy it isn’t too frightening overall.
The Grey Lady also fits seamlessly into the rest of your experience too and for this reason the addition of something new to experience is also great whether you’re visiting for the first time or (like us) returning for the hundredth.
We have however only experienced the show once and as such can’t really form a proper opinion of it until we have had another run through.
For this reason we are looking forward to returning this Saturday October 7th on the show’s official launch to the public to experience it once again.
Overall though we loved The Grey Lady and found the show’s tension packed storyline both gripping and terrifying in equal proportions.
If you’d like to know more about how we got on then a full vlog covering last night’s visit is now LIVE and available to watch over on our channel (linked below).
We’d like to give huge thanks to the amazing team at York Dungeon for inviting us along last night and we look forward to hearing more about how the public receive The Grey Lady in due course.
*The Grey Lady officially opens to the public on Saturday October 7th and is included with your standard admission – See the attraction’s official website for FULL deatils.