THEATRE: Let The Right One In

A GOOD story is a good story no matter where it comes from, or how it’s told. 

Case in point is the 2008 Swedish vampire movie and book adaptation, ‘Let The Right One In’, which was subsequently stripped of subtitles and packaged for an English speaking audience as 2010’s ‘Let Me In’. 

More recently the story morphed again, this time into a play, flying to theatres in London and New York, before landing in Dublin just a few short weeks ago for a run on the Abbey’s hallowed boards. The stage show, which is brought to you from the same team that produced ‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’, tells the story of Oskar, a young boy who lives alone with his mother on the edge of town. 

Oskar has trouble making friends, but strikes up a relationship with a young girl who has just moved in next door, at the same time as the village is dealing with a series of vicious murders. 

It soon transpires that the murderer is the young girl’s father, and Oskar’s new friend is not completely innocent herself. 

At the heart of the story is the tale of young romance, albeit very different from the kind you might wish for your own child, but therein lies the conflict.  The set is convincingly eerie, using light, dark and shadow to create the mood. Music and movement are also integral to the staging and one particular sound effect is guaranteed to make you jump out of your seat.  The performances by the leads, Craig Connolly and Katie Honan, are solid, but the real stars are the story and the staging. 

No surprise to hear that the director, John Tiffany, is Tony and Olivier award-winning, as the production has quality written all over it. 

The ending sequence especially, which whisks us from a swimming pool to a train in a stunning visual and musical whirlwind, is nothing short of spectacular.  

The show runs until January 20 and is not for the faint hearted (over 13s) but it’s one you won’t forget in a hurry. We score it a fabulous, 4 out of 5 stars.

Paul O'Rourke