Review: The Haunting of Hill House play, UK tour, Edinburgh Lyceum | Frighteningly good entertainment
The Haunting of Hill House ★★★★☆
Review: 12 November 2026 | Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh
Shirley Jackson's classic haunted house novel The Haunting of Hill House has been adapted for the stage by award-winning writer Stef Smith. Now nearing the end of its UK tour, the play produced by Wiltshire Creative in association with Theatr Clwyd has arrived in Edinburgh, where it's at the Royal Lyceum until Saturday.
Directed by Martin Constantine, this new production based on the Hill House story closely follows the plot of the original 1959 book. This is not the story from the 2018 Netflix series, which was an entirely new family drama created for the streaming service.
The Haunting of Hill House play begins the same way as the novel: paranormal researcher Dr John Montague (Jasper Britton) invites a small group of strangers to stay at the notoriously troubled and isolated Hill House in the hopes of tapping into their possible psychic abilities.
The guests are Eleanor (Clancy Ryan), who is grieving for her recently deceased mother; vivacious but guarded Theodora (Sophie Lengliner); and future heir to the Hill House estate, Luke (Robin Morrissey). They are all greeted by the foreboding housekeeper, Mrs Dudley (Sian Howard) and shown to their separate rooms.
With a running time just short of two hours, including a twenty-minute interval, Constantine's play can't possibly cover all the detail in Jackson's original novel, so the story here mostly focuses on Eleanor. As she checks into "the blue room" - the old nursery - things start to go bump in the night. But she's fragile and lonely; is this strange activity all in her head, or is the house really haunted?
This new stage adaptation does suffer from its brevity. The backstories and motivations for all the characters other than Eleanor are, at best, glossed over. But the production does well to build tension and to present a complete narrative arc for Eleanor's story in the short time it has, albeit a thinner one than in the book. Act II does feel a little rushed, and I was left wanting more. It will be a personal preference, of course, but I'd much rather that than a play that overstays its welcome.
Proper theatrical theatre
Where The Haunting of Hill House excels is with its staging and technical creativity. Ti Green's set is a deceptively simple three walls dotted with doors and windows. But when layered with Duncan McLean's superb video designs, the set transforms to become various rooms within the sprawling Hill House estate. It's a slick and quick way to dress the set when a story calls for as many locations as this one does. In this Hill House, the bedrooms are given colour scheme and wallpaper makeovers in the blink of an eye, and later the dynamic projections take us deeper and higher through its imposing walls.
Moving floor panels deliver larger pieces of furniture to centre stage, and there's an effective use of gauze behind windows that enables us to follow the group as they walk along corridors and up and down stairs. A wonderfully atmospheric storm scene, where gauze is again used, this time in front of the set, to immerse the stage in thrashing rain and lightning, is a highlight. It's all elevated by Chris Davey's lighting design, which creates eerie shadows and curious pitch-black spots on stage that build maximum tension throughout the production.
The creative team behind The Haunting of Hill House have thrown everything at it to make it a true, all-round theatrical experience. There is so much going on and so many pleasing, thrilling little details and illusions to delight, disorientate and possibly scare the audience. It's so compelling and fun; I didn't look away for a second.
A thoroughly entertaining, frighteningly fun night at the theatre
Johnny Edwards' unsettling sound design is suitably chilling, but it does rely too heavily on loud noises and jump scares for my taste. In fact, this play begins with one, and I am not a fan of that device. All it does is cause three minutes of disruption in the auditorium while everyone laughs uncomfortably and tells their companions that they jumped with fright. It takes an age for the audience to settle down again and for us to be able to hear the start of the actual story.
Jackson's original novel delivers its scares through slow-burn psychological tension, but there's little time for that here. The Hill House team have instead opted for maximum entertainment. It won't be everyone's cup of tea, but I grinned all the way through it.
The Haunting of Hill House is a physically complex piece of theatre, and the company do a brilliant job managing all the demands on them. Clancy Ryan has the most stage time as Eleanor and, with it, the most props and illusions to deal with, which she does effortlessly. Her character is beautifully realised, and a fine central protagonist for the story to pivot around.
Sian Howard is wonderfully ominous as the housekeeper who's been at Hill House "for a long time". Her mere presence brings a chill to the stage, and her subtle gestures, knowing glances and shaking hands are masterfully executed. The brilliant Jemma Churchill is sadly underused, not appearing until Act II, but when she does join the spooky sleepover, she brings a brilliant vibrancy and many moments of humour to the production.
The Haunting of Hill House is an excellent stage adaptation of a timeless haunted house story. It feels like classic theatre done well, and it works hard to deliver frighteningly good entertainment. ★★★★☆
The Haunting of Hill House is at the Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh until Saturday 14 November, and then it continues to the final venue of its UK tour in Cambridge.
MORE: The Haunting of Hill House UK tour full cast list / cast announcement: https://www.lisainthetheatre.com/post/the-haunting-of-hill-house-cast
MORE: Over in Glasgow it's the final week of the Scottish tour for Tony Roper's The Steamie. Read my review here
MORE: And also playing is Operation Mincemeat the musical. Read my review here
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