Anna Slate's powerhouse lead performance elevates ‘Blackhollow’

The Boston Globe · Terry Byrne · 2026-11-02 16:23 UTC

The Greater Boston Stage Company production runs through Nov. 8.

“Blackhollow: A Gothic Tale of Possession,” now having its world premiere at Greater Boston Stage Company through Nov. 8, is a potent homage to a broad swath of familiar tropes — “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,” “Turn of the Screw,” even George Eliot’s “The Lifted Veil.” What gives the play some original juice is the bravura solo performance by Anna Slate, who opens the show full of nervous energy, takes on at least half a dozen characters, and then manages to ratchet up the emotional energy even higher before the thriller’s end.

We arrive in 1830s England at Blackhollow, an asylum for the criminally insane that Lucy Cull (Slate) has called home since she was 11, after witnessing her father murder her mother. In the decade-plus that she has been employed there, she has worked her way up from domestic to nurse. When we meet her, she is writing her account of the strange occurrences at the asylum over the past several months. Things turned weird with the arrival of Dr. Ashburn, Blackhollow’s new medical superintendent, who chooses Lucy for an experiment he calls “the Infinity Transfusion,” an effort to infuse Lucy’s healthy blood into a “difficult” patient named Ida, while Ida’s blood flows back into Lucy. The infusions make Lucy increasingly unstable, as her consciousness is increasingly invaded by Ida’s.

Although Lucy is unable to sleep thanks to Ida’s disturbing and nightmarish visions, including an orderly’s attempt to drown her when Ida resists his sexual overtures, Lucy is convinced she can control the visions and help Ida. Trammell, the stern asylum matron, and Lucy’s roommate Clara, who is also an asylum employee, both become increasingly concerned about the impact of the experiments on Lucy’s health, until Clara finally volunteers to take Lucy’s place for the infusion with disastrous results.

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