While movies and TV tend to get top billing in the field of horror studies, Miskatonic is pleased to present an exploration of genre theater with scholar and director Felicia Lobo. What sets horror theatre apart is the visceral experience: being in the same room as a monster, feeling its breath, and shuddering in its presence. This lecture explores how horror is evoked in audiences through stagecraft, without the benefit of editing or post-production.

The discussion begins with the introduction of violence on stage in Seneca’s Phaedra, followed by analysis of Shakespeare’s use of the supernatural in plays like Macbeth. The instructor then dissects the Grand Guignol’s shocking, blood-soaked spectacles and its early use of special effects, before describing how British “In-Yer-Face Theatre” tests the audience’s tolerance for brutality. The power of physical performance will be highlighted through the examples of Benedict Cumberbatch in Nick Dear’s Frankenstein, and the vampires in Jack Thorne’s Let The Right One In. The inclusion of ghosts in plays like The Piano Lesson and The Thin Place shows how theater can interrogate generational trauma cycles, and by contrast, students will see how horror musicals such as Sweeney Todd, Bat Boy, and Carrie use melody and comedy to delve into the macabre. The class will close with a discussion of the special stage effects that can immerse audiences in a nightmarish realm. Please join us for this deep dive into the art of terrifying live audiences, just in time for Halloween.