REVIEW: ‘Someone Else’s House’ haunts audiences at Geffen Stayhouse
Photo: Jared Mezzocchi performs in the Geffen Stayhouse world premiere production Someone Else’s House. Directed by Margot Bordelon. Photo courtesy of Geffen Playhouse / Provided by press rep with permission.
This past year — a year with no in-person theater — companies around the world have had to pivot from their theatrical plans and find some type of way to deliver content to art-starved patrons. The Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles certainly led the way, presenting a number of exquisite Zoom theatrical experiences, ranging from illusion shows to a Bollywood cooking show to a puzzle show. Now they are taking the virtual format in a new direction with a haunted house tale called Someone Else’s House, scaring audiences thanks to writer / performer Jared Mezzocchi and director Margo Bordelon.
The one-hour show is an effective exercise of virtual storytelling with haunting, things-that-go-bump-in-the-night scares. Mezzocchi is an expert teller of tales, and for this theatrical presentation, he has quite the narrative to share.
If the story is to be believed — and this reviewer believes most of it — Mezzocchi grew up in rural New Hampshire, where his parents bought an historic home in a nice neighborhood, not knowing about the structure’s unique past or the apparent ghosts who haunted the property.
Mezzocchi decides to investigate the house and its past inhabitants, and he brings the audience members along for the archival journey. For most of his presentation, he offers an intimate monologue by candlelight, staring straight into his computer’s camera and making a connection with the theatergoers, all of whom can be seen sitting in their homes, some of them also by candlelight.
Helping set the mood is a gift that audience members receive prior to the performance: a “haunting kit” that is delivered to one’s house with explicit instructions not to open the box before the evening’s performance. It’s only fair that this reviewer keeps the contents of the box a secret, but rest assured the items in the “haunting kit” add to the bizarre goings-on of this sordid tale.
Someone Else’s House is based on the same curiosity that drives so many people to check out paranormal programming on TV and in the movies. There’s something terribly enticing about supposedly real-world hauntings. Plus, who doesn’t love a good old fashioned ghost story? And that’s the real strength of this Zoom performance: Mezzocchi’s ability to spin a yarn almost as if these audience members were sitting around a collective campfire. It’s great fun to watch him perform the piece, but it’s even greater fun to see the reactions from those who don’t know what they signed up for.
Is everything real in the play? Is any of this true? Answering those questions are meaningless in some ways. It’s probably easier to prove whether ghosts exist. Ultimately, who cares? This is effective, engaging and entertaining storytelling, and whether it’s fictional or not seems to miss the point.
Mezzocchi brings out important themes of family, growing up, the feeling of being home, the importance of structures that people cling to (and sometimes revile later in life) and how the lessons of the past seem to present themselves in the future. Also … in a weird way, there’s a community built throughout the evening of this performance — a community of believers and no doubt skeptics, but a community nonetheless. Everyone has come together, sitting in their respective homes around the world, taking in this frightful story and hoping the narrator makes it out alive.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Someone Else’s House, written and performed by Jared Mezzocchi, continues through July 3 at the Geffen Stayhouse Theatre. Margot Bordelon directs. Click here for more information and tickets.
