With a dark, sparse set, a single storyteller and a chair, Scatter brings an appropriately intense atmosphere into the caverns of the Underbelly. A mixture of sinister folklore and contemporary male anxiety, it evokes the tales spun in the traditional BBC Christmas ghost stories, using jump scares and a complex narrative structure to build suspense before throwing in a brutal twist.
Relying on its florid script and sudden intrusions of light and noise, Scatter is well performed and unwinds its horror slowly. The plot is familiar – a mysterious village cut off from modernity (mobile signals fail at crucial moments, locals are odd and hostile), a dense forest and a curse from the past. Layers of descriptive detail occlude the ultimate act of violence, the menace of the folklore driving the protagonist towards their doom.
The menacing atmosphere is held throughout, its time-jumping structure delving into the effects of a curse that follows the male line: the reliance on jump scares becomes intrusive but the combination of folk horror and psychological suspense lends Scatter an almost old fashioned finesse. If its reference points are often too obvious – Blair Witch, the rural tropes of the cabin in the wood genre – the central performance holds together the extremes to deliver a forceful narrative.
Scatter: A Horror Play, Underbelly Cowgate, until 24 Aug (not 11), 3.40pm