Let the Right One In review

As the odd couple’s friendship grows there is a real tenderness between the two, drawing us into what, in some respects, is a horror story. The young diverse cast who double up as policemen, schoolkids and – hilariously – TV presenters are augmented by two adult actors - Michelle Asante as Oskar’s anxious mum and Colin Tierney as Eli’s guardian. 

With flurries of snow falling from above and a sound design by Dan Balfour that heralds impending doom, the production delivers exactly the right amount of thrills and chills, with a side order of tenderness, humour and teenage awkwardness. And the sexual attraction is conveyed, thanks to the help of two intimacy directors, with a delicate eroticism that makes sense between a young adolescent man and a girl who is much older than she looks. 

I miss the film’s line: “I’m twelve. But I’ve been twelve for a long time” – necessarily excluded due to the increased ages of the cast – but otherwise this is a really well staged version of a story that can now be considered a modern classic. 

The special effects are superbly done, especially the infamous ’acid scene’, which is truly horrific, and the fights and murders are woundingly authentic, performed with the minimum of blood spatter. Best of all, Dacre maintains the ambiguities of the story. While the word vampire is never used, Eli has existed for centuries on a diet of haemoglobin. “You’re not one of those. Are you?” asks Oskar. Eli questions whether Oskar would still like her if she wasn’t a girl, inviting an element of gender speculation. 

When Oskar queries her status and origins it is evident that she evolved over the centuries, like Virginia Woolf’s Orlando, from male to female (“My name was Elias”) and that now she is neither girl nor boy: “I’m not anything.” The non-binary resonance is clear and doesn’t need to be laboured beyond those lines of dialogue. 

National Youth Theatre is currently celebrating its 70th anniversary. If it continues in this vein it will thrive for another 70 years, as long as it is nourished by fresh blood. A very satisfying night.

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