Stranger Things: The First Shadow is now open in London's West End
For some Stranger things fans growing impatient for the show's fifth and final season, a trip to London could be on the cards.
The spin-off Stranger Things: The First Shadow made its official West End debut on Thursday evening and is already receiving rave reviews.
It's set in the same Indiana town as the hit Netflix A science fiction drama, this prequel production is set largely in the late 1950s and introduces a host of new characters alongside younger versions of some of the show's key figures.
After its first official outing, The First Shadow received an absolute flurry of five- and four-star reviews, praising both the special effects and the cast of the Stranger Things spin-off.
Even those critics who were cynical about whether the production was merely a "cash-in" on Stranger Things' popularity have praised the spectacle - although reviewers can't seem to agree on whether or not the production is the worth seeing for people who have never done it before. have seen the Netflix drama before.
Isabella Pappas as Joyce Maldonado, Oscar Lloyd as James Hopper, Jr. and Christopher Buckley as Bob Newby pictured during rehearsals
Here's a selection of what critics had to say about Stranger Things: The First Shadow (and scroll to the end for some of the harsher reviews)...
"The big surprise of this prequel to the TV series, about high school students tapping into the dangerous world of the Upside Down, is that it is neither derivative nor an exercise in imitation. This is breathtaking theater with its own captivating imagination."
"This stunning performance turns normal expectations of theater upside down. Director Stephen Daldry has taken the Duffer Brothers' 1980s Netflix sci-fi hit and turned it into a spectacular, multimedia prequel, packed with enough suspense, scares and knowing winks to please fans and uninitiated alike .
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" The audience is buffeted by the wind, shrouded in mist, subjected to bloody scenes of bloody panic, transported to mysterious realms and witnesses to enormous set pieces. All within the first four minutes. No one dialed into this production [...] Everything is turned up to 11."
"I can't claim that this piece of drama is anything more than high-quality hokum, but what we get as audience members is a groundbreaking experience, one that combines state-of-the-art video wizardry with the tricks of the theater trade - sometimes so simple as wandering strobe lights and dizzying stage turns. These create an exciting stream of breathtaking coups [...] It's not so much about the play, but about the unforgettable atmosphere that matters."
" A lot of attention will be paid to the visual special effects and, yes, they are very impressive, but what really makes this play work is exactly the same thing that makes any play work, whether it's a spectacular big-budget West End extravaganza is or a two-hander in a small studio theater: it is the characters and the way the actors portray them.
"It's not just the ideal control of light, sound signals and alarming visions that impresses. Netflix has clearly emptied its coffers here, but it's not about the budget on display, but the imaginative flair used to create astonishing fluidity. The story comes in pieces, but the show gives you the feeling that everything is in its right place, leading inexorably to the truth behind the darkness.
The First Shadow is set decades before the events of Stranger Things
"This is not a quiet, picturesque, self-conscious theatrical play. It's a massive event designed to delight fans of the award-winning Netflix series with explosions, thrills and jump scares galore - plus a sneak peek at what's to come in the show's fifth season in 2024. But with writer Jack Thorne and director Stephen Daldry on board, the film also has a surprisingly high level of theatrical value for anyone who doesn't get around to it and is up to date with the Stranger Things stories."
"This glossy, three-hour transplant seems to cost every penny of its eye-watering cost. After four seasons on television, the Stranger Things phenomenon hits the stage, and the good news is that it's an absolute riot, even if you haven't seen the television show.
"While it may be easy to be cynical (it's impossible to ignore that this piece is essentially a cash cow for fans), it's just as easy to give in to the playfulness of it all. [...] The first shadow is light on plot details and spends no time pandering to those who need explanation. But who cares? The stagecraft is phenomenal, and the almost non-stop glare distracts from any lack of detail or clarity in the storyline.
"Yes, it is Netflix milking a brand. Yes, it's the West End indulging in a screen favorite rather than promoting something new. But it is excitingly done - magical and dramatic."
"Director Stephen Daldry uses all his theatrical and filmmaking powers like a modern-day Prospero. Together with an army of technicians, illusionists and video designers, he creates an intoxicating cocktail of science fiction and horror that makes Harry Potter and the Cursed Child look like Noddy in Toyland. For anyone unfamiliar with the series, it will likely prove to be a mind-boggling experience."
Louis McCartney and Ella Karuna Williams on the set of Stranger Things: The First Shadow
"As a whole, the production is opulent, to the point of shame, and the sheer scale of the whole thing is difficult to reconcile with the piece's rather modest intellectual aspirations and lack of originality. You're left impressed and a little bewildered at the same time. Haven't television and cinema already covered these bases? Is this what theater is? ?"
"The First Shadow suffers from dramatic swelling and tonal inconsistency. The biggest frustration with that is the feeling that it might have been the show of the year with 30 minutes of brutal cuts. But you won't be getting another Stranger Things play anytime soon, and the things it does well, it does astonishingly well. It's not perfect, but it's as close to the Upside Down as you can get without getting your head bitten off by a demogorgon."
"One of the stranger aspects of the Internet is that strange, passionate realm known as fan fiction, where lovers of books, TV shows or movies put their own spin on their favorite works. There's the same mix of enthusiasm and clumsiness in this unwieldy prequel to the Duffer brothers' hit Netflix series about supernatural events in 1980s Indiana.
"This bloated behemoth bears no resemblance to your favorite binge watch. The strange thing is that all this money and talent is such a mess."
Stranger Things: The First Shadow is now showing at the Phoenix Theater in London's West End.
