Minerva theatre, Chichester
Colourful characters gather for a will reading in this horror-comedy, given a larky update with stylish sequences

If walls could talk you’d want to hear the rock’n’roll history at Redlands, Keith Richards’ country pile, whose infamy inspired Chichester Festival theatre’s new production. Meanwhile, in the Minerva next door, playwright Carl Grose has blown some of the cobwebs off John Willard’s creaky 1922 housebound mystery The Cat and the Canary, set in an eerie mansion which keeps tight-lipped about its secrets. These guests fear the walls are listening to their every move.

The captivating opening sequence is as much mission statement as scene-setter: a compendium of horror trappings including a creepy nursery rhyme, a torch searching the darkness and a puppet that evokes both Little Red Riding Hood and Don’t Look Now. Thunderstorms, cackles and ominous piano notes echo on Angela Davies’ elegant set whose black and white chequerboard flooring has an optical illusion that evokes a vortex, ready to swallow these unfortunates.

At the Minerva theatre, Chichester, until 26 October