The Toronto Theatre Review: “Tales of the Damned” at the Campbell House

By Ross

It’s that time of year again, when the ghosts and ghouls come out and play, and following tradition, White Mills Theatre Company has dutifully turned Toronto’s historic Campbell House Museum into a haunted storytelling wonderland once again. Following last year’s gruesomely entertaining Tales of the Grotesque, the company unveils its latest imaginative immersion, Tales of the Damned. As expected, it’s a gorgeously wicked and creative collision of literature, history, and horror. Drawing from the works of Mary Shelley, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Oscar Wilde, the show fascinatingly entwines three classic Gothic tales: Frankenstein, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and The Picture of Dorian Gray, into one elegantly nightmarish masquerade, and there’s no way to say no to this invitation.

Greeted in the central hall by a dance of demonic death and ballet, crafted by choreographer Ella Mazur, the spell is quickly cast. And once seated inside the notorious Black-Mail House’s main parlor room, a repeated pantomime of pain and anger plays out by mirror-imaged madmen, as our guide and host with the deepest and darkest of voices prompts us into place. The party has begun, but the air is overwhelmed by the operatic songs of the devil. Hands are clamped over their ears, trying to drown out their maddening songs, as fear, grief, and the anger of revenge build.

This is where a brutal murder occurred, out of the blue, but with evil intentions. Sparked by a pact with the Devil, the audience is drawn into a living fever dream of Victorian sin and retribution. The twisted tale unwinds slowly and sharply, perhaps in more detail than necessary, before we are soon split up and led through all the shadowed rooms of the Campbell House, where each chamber has been laid out to reveal a different story. The loosely connected tales unfold before us, sometimes through flashbacks, sometimes by sudden shifts in time and space. Each is handled with such confidence and expertise that the experience feels like slipping through a haunted mirror into a dark pool of fear and longing.

The cast delivers forth these iconic characters exceptionally. Anthony Botelho brings a masterful, tormented grace and power to his Victor Frankenstein, while Spencer Schunk’s dynamic Henry Jekyll and Scott Garland’s chilling Edward Hyde form a mirrored dance duet of precise psychological horror that’s both grotesque and mesmerizing. Adrian Marchesano’s Dorian Gray is all pompous vanity and moral decay, delivering a portrait of youth rotting beautifully from within. Shelby Handley lends Agatha De Lacey fierce power and compelling compassion, driving forward the emotional core of the piece and its anger, and Tara Baxendale’s determined Madame Ricarda Enfield adds a commanding presence that sharpens every scene she enters.

As always, White Mills Theatre’s sharp artistry lies in creating both atmosphere and intimacy. The rooms pulse with flickering lantern light and echoing screams; the costumes shimmer with decadence and decay; and the proximity to the actors makes every confession and transformation feel disturbingly real. Co-produced and co-directed by Shannon Mills and playwright Brandon White, along with co-director/stage manager Iris Asserlind and music arranger Rob Carruthers, all these elements weave together into something captivating, smart, and terrifying. The music soars, sung with passion and form by the Faust trio, Michelle Danese, Michelle Piller, and music director Shannon Mills, accompanied by musician Isaac Kuk. It’s not the bombast of jump-scare horror, but the slow-burn thrill of recognition.

Tales of the Damned isn’t just a Hallow’s Eve immersive show; it’s a living, breathing séance of literature and theatre that will, maybe not haunt your nightmares, but it will remind us that our greatest monsters are, as ever, reflections of ourselves.