Paranormal Activity stage show is coming to London's West End
The Paranormal Activity stage show - which is based on the supernatural horror film franchise - is coming to London's West End this December following a fun at Leeds Playhouse in 2024.
The stage adaptation of Paranormal Activity is coming to London's West End.
The critically acclaimed production will run at The Ambassadors Theatre for a 12-week season and the new story inspired by the supernatural horror film franchise will be directed by immersive theatre pioneer and Punchdrunk’s Founder and Artistic Director Felix Barrett. It has been written by playwright Levi Holloway, whose previous work includes Broadway play Grey House.
The show's story follows James and Lou who move from Chicago to London to escape their past, but they soon discover that places aren’t haunted, people are.
Director Barrett cannot wait to bring the show to London following its run at Leeds Playhouse last summer.
Barrett said: "I’m so thrilled that Paranormal will have a chance to ensnare and unnerve audiences in London later this year. From seeing the advertising campaign of the film 20 years ago, where you watched cinema audiences leap out of their chairs in horror, I have long wondered how you could recreate that visceral reaction in a theatre setting. How do you bring one of the most frightening films to life? How do you break the inherent safety that a plush West End theatre offers? It’s been an incredible challenge, and we cannot wait to see how London audiences respond!"
Playwright Holloway added: “Collaborating with Felix Barrett to create an actual nightmare has been nothing short of a dream. Relishing in a shared language of dread, we’ve conspired to create something impossible, mixing the familiar with the uncanny, heart with horror. London audiences have a nose for honesty on stage and little patience for anything else. They’ll find it here, right alongside all the mischief we’ve made to trouble their sleep.”
The Paranormal Activity stage show will also undertake a North American tour this autumn, visiting the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre; Center Theatre Group, Ahmanson Theatre, Los Angeles; Shakespeare Theatre Company, Washington DC and American Conservatory Theatre, San Francisco, ahead of opening in London this December.
Barrett is the founder and Artistic Director of Punchdrunk. He has conceived all of Punchdrunk’s shows, including Viola's Room, which has just opened at The Shed in New York, The Burnt City, The Drowned Man: A Hollywood Fable, The Borough (Aldeburgh Music), The Crash Of The Elysium (MIF and 2012 Cultural Olympiad), The Duchess Of Malfi (English National Opera), It Felt Like A Kiss - a collaboration with Adam Curtis, Damon Albarn for Manchester International Festival - The Masque Of The Red Death, Faust and The Firebird Ball.
Felix also directed the company’s award-winning Sleep No More. First experienced by audiences in London in 2003, it has since travelled to Boston, New York, where it ran for 14 years, Shanghai, where it has become the longest running show in the city's history, and will open in Seoul in Summer 2025.
In 2020, Felix worked with writer Dennis Kelly to create The Third Day. The series included The Third Day: Autumn - a 12-hour episode, recorded as-live in one continuous take, which received the 2021 RTS Award for a Live Event, and was nominated for a BAFTA in the Live Event category.
Levi Holloway is a Chicago-based artist. As a playwright, world premieres include Pinocchio at Chicago Children’s Theatre, Haven Place, Grey House and most recently, Turret at A Red Orchid Theatre, with which he is an ensemble member.
His play Grey House ran on Broadway in 2023. Levi is the co-founder of Neverbird Project, a youth-based Deaf and hearing theatre company. He spent a decade devising theatre with the Sign/Voice theatre program at Chicago’s Bell Elementary, one of the country’s oldest and most prolific Deaf and hearing integrated schools, founded in 1917.
The creative team behind the Paranormal Activity stage show also includes Fly Davis as Set and Costume Designer, Illusions by Chris Fisher, Anna Watson as Lighting Designer, Gareth Fry as Sound Designer, Video Design by Luke Halls and Casting Direction by Stuart Burt CDG and Ginny Schiller CDG.
Released by Paramount Pictures in 2009, the original Paranormal Activity has been praised as a master class in psychological terror.
Reimagining the found footage genre for a new generation, the film became a global sensation, grossing nearly $200 million worldwide and kicking off a blockbuster franchise spanning seven feature films.
Performances will begin on Friday 5 December, 2025.
Tickets go on sale Wednesday 9 July at noon at www.paranormalonstage.com.
