PARANORMAL ACTIVITY Will Transfer to the West End

Following its run at Leeds Playhouse last summer, Melting Pot has announced that the stage adaptation of the Paranormal Activity films will haunt the West End this winter when it transfers to The Ambassadors Theatre for a 12-week season. A new story inspired by the worldwide horror phenomenon, Paranormal Activity, a new story live on stage, is directed by immersive theatre pioneer and Punchdrunk’s Founder and Artistic Director, Felix Barrett and written by playwright Levi Holloway, whose pulse-pounding theatrical thriller Grey House chilled Broadway audiences, will begin performances on Friday 5 December, 2025. Tickets go on sale Wednesday 9 July at noon.

James and Lou move from Chicago to London to escape their past, but they soon discover that places aren’t haunted, people are… Inspired by the iconic, terrifying film series, Paranormal Activity is a new story live on stage.

Paranormal Activity reimagines the modern ghost story with an unsettling intimacy only theatre can provide. Immersing audiences in an atmosphere of creeping dread, unseen forces, and psychological tension, Levi Holloway’s script offers a bold reinterpretation of the original, blending domestic horror with mind-bending theatricality. Felix Barrett, known for breaking boundaries between audience and performer, brings his signature visionary style to the production. With innovative staging and chilling soundscapes, Paranormal Activity invites audiences to witness the inexplicable up close—and feel the fear in real time.

Praised for its inventive storytelling and terrifying atmosphere, the West End transfer promises to amplify the experience even further, making it a must-see event for thrill-seekers and theatre lovers alike. Paranormal Activity will undertake a North American tour this autumn, visiting the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre; Center Theatre Group, Ahmanson Theatre, Los Angeles; Shakespeare Theatre Company, Washington DC and American Conservatory Theatre, San Francisco, ahead of opening in London this December.

Director Felix Barrett says of the West End transfer: "I’m so thrilled that Paranormal will have a chance to ensnare and unnerve audiences in London later this year! From seeing the advertising campaign of the film twenty years ago, where you watched cinema audiences leap out of their chairs in horror, I have long wondered how you could recreate that visceral reaction in a theatre setting. How do you bring one of the most frightening films to life? How do you break the inherent safety that a plush West End theatre offers? It’s been an incredible challenge, and we cannot wait to see how London audiences respond!"

Playwright Levi Holloway continues: “Collaborating with Felix Barrett to create an actual nightmare has been nothing short of a dream. Relishing in a shared language of dread, we’ve conspired to create something impossible, mixing the familiar with the uncanny, heart with horror. London audiences have a nose for honesty on stage and little patience for anything else. They’ll find it here, right alongside all the mischief we’ve made to trouble their sleep.”

“It’s been a privilege working with Felix, Levi, the world-class creative team and Paramount to bring this new story to life on stage. It’s bold, terrifying, and after seeing it, you might need to sleep with the lights on …” adds Simon Friend, producer.

Felix Barrett is the founder and Artistic Director of Punchdrunk. He has conceived all of Punchdrunk’s shows, including Viola's Room, which has just opened at The Shed in New York, The Burnt City, The Drowned Man: A Hollywood Fable, The Borough (Aldeburgh Music), The Crash Of The Elysium (MIF and 2012 Cultural Olympiad), The Duchess Of Malfi (English National Opera), It Felt Like A Kiss (a collaboration with Adam Curtis, Damon Albarn for Manchester International Festival), The Masque Of The Red Death, Faust and The Firebird Ball.

Felix also directed the company’s award-winning Sleep No More. First experienced by audiences in London in 2003, it has since travelled to Boston, New York, where it ran for 14 years, Shanghai, where it has become the longest running show in the city's history, and will open in Seoul in Summer 2025.

In 2020, Felix worked with writer Dennis Kelly to create The Third Day (co-produced with HBO, Sky Studios and Plan B Entertainment). The series included The Third Day: Autumn - a 12-hour episode, recorded as-live in one continuous take, which received the 2021 RTS Award for a Live Event, and was nominated for a BAFTA in the Live Event category.

Felix’s work as a director outside of Punchdrunk includes: Shakira’s The Sun Comes Out World Tour; Tom Stoppard’s Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, directed with Tom Morris at The National Theatre, the stage adaptation of Paranormal Activity (Leeds Playhouse, US Tour), and the live performances in Luna Luna at the Shed, New York. Felix is a graduate and Honorary Doctorate in Drama of the University of Exeter and was appointed an MBE in the 2016 Queen’s Birthday Honours for services to theatre.

Levi Holloway is a Chicago-based artist. As a playwright, world premieres include Pinocchio at Chicago Children’s Theatre, Haven Place, Grey House and most recently, Turret at A Red Orchid Theatre, with which he is an ensemble member. His play Grey House ran on Broadway in 2023. Levi is the co-founder of Neverbird Project, a youth-based Deaf and hearing theatre company. He spent a decade devising theatre with the Sign/Voice theatre program at Chicago’s Bell Elementary, one of the country’s oldest and most prolific Deaf and hearing integrated schools, founded in 1917.

The creative team also includes Fly Davis as Set and Costume Designer, Illusions by Chris Fisher, Anna Watson as Lighting Designer, Gareth Fry as Sound Designer, Video Design by Luke Halls and Casting Direction by Stuart Burt CDG and Ginny Schiller CDG.

Released by Paramount Pictures in 2009, the original Paranormal Activity is a master class in psychological terror.  Reimagining the found footage genre for a new generation, the film became a global sensation, grossing nearly $200 million worldwide and kicking off a blockbuster franchise spanning seven feature films.  Now, the legacy of fear comes to the intimate world of the theatre as the terrifying phenomenon transitions to the West End stage. Get ready to experience Paranormal Activity in real life.