‘The Haunting of Hill House’ Is a Terrific Try

Theater Review

The Haunting of Hill House,’ which opened on Friday night at Pierson Playhouse, reminded me of an acting class I took in New York.   My instructor assigned Dennis Wolfberg (an earnest but slightly wacked comedian) and me the scene from ‘Psycho,’ where Norman makes dinner for Marion Crane. In the movie, as the character talks about his mother and taxidermy hobby, the camera flashes to the stuffed birds on the walls, an unsettling moment for Crane and the audience.   After practicing for several weeks, Wolfberg and I performed the scene in class. We quickly realized our fellow students weren’t with us. We tried harder to emphasize lines with pauses and long breaks in the dialogue, and when that didn’t work, we tried speeding up the dialogue. We still didn’t ‘click,’ at which point we looked at each other and then played it for the biggest laughs we could get.   Unfortunately, we then had to sit in front of the class and listen as the teacher analyzed our work. He commented that we had initially made an admirable attempt, but that he didn’t think the scene could work because Hitchcock had the advantage of film’the camera cuts, back and forth between the birds and the people, which helped the pacing and set the mood.   I feel the same is true of “Hill House,” a Theatre Palisades production: the actors have made an admirable attempt, but the play falls flat.   Directed by Sherry Coon and based on Shirley Jackson’s horror story about a haunted house, the plot revolves around Dr. John Montague (Donald Heath), a psychic researcher who hopes to document the spirits or phenomena in the haunted house. He has selected two women, Eleanor Vance and Theodora, who have talents in the psychic realm to accompany him. Additionally, a young man, Luke Sanderson (Patrick Glenn), a relative of the owner of the house is sent to oversee the effort.   In the play, which was originally set in the 1950s, there are hints of a love triangle between Sanderson and the two women, but this is complicated when it appears that Vance prefers Theodora.   Even with a tremendous effort by the cast and an imaginative set, the play is long, especially the first half (90 minutes), and at times even tedious.   The costumes, by Coon, are lovely, but it seems like the actors who take turns wandering onto the set, pretending to look at something, are used simply as a ploy so that other actors can change into different outfits. Easily 20 minutes could be shaved off the evening by moving more rapidly from scene to scene.   The actors often responded to each other in ways that didn’t seem authentic. When Susan Stangl (Mrs. Montague) came into the room, Jessica Tallmadge (Eleanor) and Morgan Lariah (Theodora) don’t look up from their books. I don’t care how good a book is, a person notices when someone enters a room. The actors often didn’t look at each other as they interacted, or they mugged (which is always good in farce, but not so good in trying to set an eerie mood). At times they just seemed to be reciting lines.   I saw the play on the opening night, so I’m sure adjustments will be made to pacing, and to the sound effects, which I felt were too loud to be eerie.   Maybe ‘The Haunting of Hill House’ is best done on film, where there can be cuts and the tension and mood can be more easily tempered with music and lighting.   Pierson Playhouse is located at Temescal Canyon Road and Haverford Avenue. Performances are Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. Ticket prices vary. Call (310) 454-1970.