Serving Barnwell County and its neighbors since 1852
Circle Theatre is bringing back its “Bloody Barnwell” production, which sold out earlier this year.
This theatrical experience takes audiences into Barnwell’s darker past by blending history, storytelling, period costumes, projected visuals, and immersive narration. Bloody Barnwell will be presented for three nights only – Saturday, Oct. 24, Friday, Oct. 30 and Saturday, Oct. 31.
“For as long as I can remember, I always enjoyed true crime, spooky themes and things that go bump in the night. One of my favorite pastimes when visiting a new city is to go on their local ghost tour. These are generally walking tours with a single guide that combines a blend of local history and a description of crime or dark occurrences that happened at a particular location,” said Kell Anderson, a Circle Theatre board member who created and narrates the show.
He originally thought about doing a ghost tour in Barnwell, and even researched some stories, but shelved the idea due to family obligations and concerns over the walking distance to locations for some patrons. Last summer, his wife gave him tickets to a staged storytelling production of four stories from author Edgar Allen Poe.
“Inspired by this, I thought it would be interesting to bring a similar author-based type experience to the stage at Circle Theatre. I then remembered that I had likely enough real-life stories and accounts put on the shelf to produce a one-of-a-kind Barnwell centric story telling production,” said Anderson.
For his research, he gravitated to the turn of the 20th century (late 1800’s to early 1900’s). “I quicky found that it was rather a violent and somewhat lawless time in our history. I tried to choose stories that had an interesting twist or ones that were just too big to ignore,” he said.
Using historical news reports, Anderson worked to balance historical accuracy with theatrical storytelling.
“I found many of the articles in my research were exclusively event based. So, I found myself adding some dramatic polish within realistic limits to make it flow in a more linear based storytelling format,” he said.
When asked if his research uncovered any surprising facts or moments, Anderson said, “People haven’t changed. The things that drive and influence us today are the same things that drove and influenced us 100 years ago.”
As narrator, Anderson will bring the stories to life on the stage, which he describes as a “dark, abandoned candlelit Victorian-era ball room on a cold winter’s evening.”
With each story, audience members will receive a non-alcoholic mocktail “that somehow could be tied back to each story either in name, color or flavor composition in a clever and fun way,” he said.
Anderson recommends leaving children at home due to themes of violence, crime and man’s darker side.
When asked what message he hopes audiences take away, Anderson said, “Sometimes one needs to investigate the darkness to truly appreciate the light, and our community has such light in good measure.”
This presentation of “Bloody Barnwell” includes the same four stories as the January production, but also includes one new story.
Tickets are $25 and can be purchased at The People-Sentinel’s office (9089 Marlboro Avenue, Barnwell) or online at https://circle-theatre-of-barnwell.square.site.
Anderson hopes to make this event an annual Halloween tradition.
