Siren Songs Thesis Show Review
This year's theatre Thesis Festival was a sight to behold. By the end of the weekend all of the tickets were sold out, and for good reason. dante tirado morales ’26 directed a wonderful adaptation of Jean Genet’s The Maids, creating an environment of wonderfully immersive theater and instilling in the audience a (much needed) sense of discomfort. Lily Olcott ’26 directed a production of Siren Songs, taking on the difficult task of portraying horror through an unconventional method: the stage.
Conveying horror in any medium presents its own difficulties. Deciding whether to go for bold jumpscares versus a more subtle atmosphere of deep unease to invoke fear is difficult, and putting these tactics on stage is even harder. Beyond just the acting, one must also consider how to use technical aspects to convey horror. The lighting, set, and sounds must be fully thought through to truly immerse the audience in the environment.
Olcott’s production managed to slowly build a sense of unease and fear in the audience over the short period of the play. By the time the house lights go up, the audience releases a breath they didn’t realize they were holding.
The play revolves around Thomas Howell, played by Aine Murtaugh ’27, and Thomas Griffith, played by Fish Vaughn ’28. These Thomases are the two lighthouse keepers at Small’s Lighthouse, and have little in common besides their name. As they live together during their stay in the lighthouse, they start to butt heads over disagreements about literature, wives, and just about everything. The duration of the lighthouse stay is portrayed well through the use of small scenes with repetitive actions. For a small time, the audience gets to watch the daily routine of the lighthouse keepers as they keep the light burning, go about their days, and slowly go insane. As the play progresses, the audience bears witness to the Thomases’ hallucinations and dreams. At the start of the play, we are introduced to Martha Howell, played by Yuri Garcia ’27, the wife of Thomas Howell, as she appears in his delusions. These appearances happen throughout the play, creating a sense of unease as she slowly shifts from a sweet, comforting presence to one that instills fear and intimidation. We see her influence Howell’s actions as his time at the lighthouse progresses and he loses his sense of control and humanity. We see her influence spread more after Griffith catches a sickness and dies. Griffith’s sickness also contributes to the sense of fear portrayed throughout this play. As his sickness worsens, so do his insanity and fever dreams, and the audience begins to relate to this fear in a very real way. Although Howell signals for help after Griffith’s death, the well-known tension between the two causes him to fear that he will be blamed for killing him, and Martha appears again to further prod this unease.
The set is built to truly make the audience feel as though they are right there in the lighthouse with the characters. The size and structure of the Black Box Theater adds to the sense of claustrophobia felt by the characters, and the stage is so close to the audience that the audience can feel fully immersed in the experience. The top of the lighthouse is also very immersive, containing various interactive elements. The light on top of the lighthouse is designed not only to light up and spin, but also has a compartment for fuel to be fed into for the light to keep burning. With a ladder, dock, bedroom, and lantern room, the set is very realistic and admirable.
The lighting and sound also contributes to the inducement of fear. Between the combination of the two, startling effects are created, shocking and scaring the audience with bold portrayals of fever dreams during Griffith’s sickness. The lighting behind the lighthouse glares red at times, bathing the theater in a feverish light.
Between the wonderful contributions of the actors, techies, and director (of course), Siren Songs manages to portray a wonderfully thrilling and psychologically unnerving play. The dedication and hard work that was poured into this is evident and clearly paid off, and nearly everyone I’ve spoken to has said that they wish they had the chance to see it again.