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Style & Design
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The ART of ANTICIPATION
Ghost Stories, Murder Mystery, and Time Travel Between 1922 & 2022
seamlessly merge into one new yet timeless theatrical design:
The Haunted Haute-Couture Aesthetic
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Visually arresting and filling the screen with thrilling ,and emotional tension – The Ghost Light's Design “threads the needle” between frightening and fantastique. It offers a fresh take on familiar terrain. It's ominous terror makes you want to cover your eyes, while it's charismatic characters struggling to uncover the truth, keep you glued to the screen. You’ll be transported into an immersive world of intrigue and time travel, delivering an addictive, diva-driven drama, filled with dread and delight.
Like a Scottish tartan, the fabric of The Ghost Light weaves together threads of scary and satirical colors into a single intersecting pattern – matching the plot’s terrifying twists and turns. The patterns of behavior by the performers, perpetrators, and paranormal entities overlap – mirroring the overlapping patterns characteristic of Art Deco Designs.
By combining haunting, glamorous allure, grounded in authentic, historically accurate period pieces,
we “set the stage” (literally and figuratively) for the tone and style of The Ghost Light… A Murder Mystery farce rooted in terrifying time travel, infused with paranormal atmospheric ambiance.
Our design mirrors the moments of artistic, emotional, and “spiritual” transformation our characters experience in our show (within a show) – as they endeavor to create art (on stage) – and in doing so risk their reputations, hearts, minds, and souls… even their lives. Our ghostly tale is filled with rollicking triumphs, persistent terror, and a dash of melancholy, for with all ghost stories someone dies, leaving lingering memories in their wake…
Our timeless tale is enhanced by its visual and auditory storytelling. The essence and individuality of our characters (and roles they), the delivery of our story through its language (dialogue, pacing), even the very platform on which our spine-chilling and stylish, story “plays out” – is all mirrored by our set, costumes, props, lighting, cinematography, framing, and musical scoring. Through our use of light, texture and color, our design makes the single location match both timelines, productions, people, and plot.
The Location is inspired by the actual Orpheum theaters built at the beginning of the 20th Century, which were often restored in the late ‘80s (inspired by a mix of early 1900-1920s decor.) The Theater is not only the central set piece but is in many ways a character within the story itself… As all theaters have their own ghost stories.
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The Set is inspired by the eerie inescapable sense of history lingering on, inhabiting the “space” in The Others and The Haunting of Hill House, the faux Gothic mansion look of Clue, the crisp elegance Blithe Spirit, the contrasting “upstairs/downstairs” status in Downton Abbey, the varying period styles (art deco vs/ antiques) found in the countless iterations of Miss Marple and Poirot.
The Costuming is inspired by theater, films, and high fashion in the Art Deco Design era and Roaring Twenties, the drawings of Erte, Graphic Posters for Movies, Magazines, and Mystics, Paperback Fiction Covers, and the highly theatrical work of Vivian Westwood, the late Theirry Mugler and Alexander McQueen, and the otherworldly designs of Iris Van Herpen.
The Lighting, Cinematography, and Framing further deepens our macabre, moody, and, at times, melancholic paranormal atmosphere. Rich jewel tones gels, gobos, fresnel lenses, and various spotlights in theatrical stage lighting, as well lighting, framing, and cinematography, are inspired by films like The Shining, or The Others, as well as television series like Carnivale, Dark, Black Mirror, The Haunting of Bly Manor, and Russian Doll.
The Dialogue is deadly in the violence it incites, and in turn of phrase...
At times whimsical, and wistful – the language of The Ghost Light is inspired by the murder mysteries of Agatha Christie, the witty repartee of Noel Coward, and the period-style homage as heard in Hunderby or The Great. But its driving force is its mix of urgency and suspense, as in Russian Doll or Only Murders in the Building, or Inside Number 9.
The Sound Effects are inspired by the genres that inform our series:
creaking doors, approaching footsteps that abruptly disappear, disembodied whispers off in the wings, muffled murmurs, haughty laughter, glass breaking, shrieks of terror, and music playing softly in the distance before swelling.
The Soundtrack is inspired by classical music by and authentic Period Pieces as in "violent cartoons" like Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody in Tom & Jerry, or Rossini’s Barber of Seville and Handel’s Messiah in Bugs Bunny. Real Period Music from the early 1920s (Bessie Smith’s Haunted House Blues, The New Orleans Owl’s White Ghost Shivers, Henry Burr’s Crossroads). We also remix those 1920's tunes with modern covers by Postmodern Jukebox or Puddles the Clown. And we top it all off with creepy contemporary crooners like Sufjan Stevens, Agnes Obel, and Mogli, who use classical arrangements to create macabre and atmospheric melodies that get underneath your skin, crawl inside your head, and haunt your dreams.
The Ghost Light's Design is both Frightening & Fucking Gorgeous!
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The Ghost Light's Playlist
