In a post on X dated September 7, George questioned the political significance of the slogan “Free Palestine” and directed a personal insult at Faith, describing her as “about as political as a soggy tuna sandwich.”

George also criticized what he called Faith’s “stupid virtuous squealing of delight” over Macklemore’s remarks, while separately accusing Ed Sheeran of having “no spine” for not publicly addressing the controversy.

The comments placed two British pop performers on opposing sides of a wider argument over artists’ political speech at major concerts and the way public figures respond to the war in Gaza.

Macklemore’s Concert Remarks

Macklemore made the comments during performances at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on September 4 and 5, while appearing as an opening act for Sheeran’s Loop tour.

Before performing his protest song “Hind’s Hall,” Macklemore told the audience that one reason he wanted to take part in the tour was to stand on stages across the United States and say the words “Free Palestine.”

The song “Hind’s Hall,” released in 2024, is associated with Macklemore’s criticism of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza and his support for Palestinian rights.

Macklemore performed while wearing a keffiyeh, a scarf widely associated with Palestinian identity and solidarity, according to coverage of the performances.

The rapper’s remarks drew criticism from pro-Israel groups, including the Israeli-American Council, which launched a petition calling for him to be removed from the remainder of Sheeran’s tour.

The Israeli-American Council characterized Macklemore’s intervention as a one-sided political message at a mainstream concert.

Macklemore’s Response

Macklemore subsequently said his comments were not intended as an attack on Jewish people.

In a video shared on social media, he addressed Jewish audiences directly and said that criticism of Israel, opposition to apartheid and opposition to genocide were not criticisms of Jewish people.

The BBC reported that Macklemore framed his remarks as a call for freedom and equality rather than an expression of hostility toward Jewish people.

The distinction between criticism of the Israeli government and hostility toward Jewish people has been central to the reaction surrounding the performances.

The available reports do not establish whether Sheeran personally endorsed Macklemore’s remarks or whether he had advance knowledge of the content of the opening set.

Faith’s Position and George’s Criticism

Faith’s support for Macklemore’s comments was reported as the immediate reason George included her in his post.

The reports reviewed do not reproduce the full wording of Faith’s original response or establish whether she made additional comments about Israel, Gaza, Jewish people or the political debate.

George argued that slogans such as “Free Palestine” can create the appearance of moral courage without requiring substantial political knowledge.

He also said the dispute made him “queasy” and expressed approval of Pink, who had publicly spoken out in the wider controversy.

George’s criticism was directed at Faith’s political response rather than at her musical work or identity.

Neither the reports from PinkNews or Attitude Magazine reviewed for this article document a public response from Faith to George’s latest comments.

Their Earlier History

George and Faith previously worked together as coaches on the BBC music competition *The Voice UK*.

They joined the program’s coaching panel for its fifth season alongside will.i.am and Ricky Wilson.

The pair attracted attention during the program after Faith pretended to fall asleep while George was speaking to a contestant.

George responded by calling Faith “extremely rude” during the exchange.

Faith later discussed the incident and said she had “blacked out” after what she described as an ill-timed joke, while George said the pair had subsequently gone out to dinner and could cope with each other.

The earlier television dispute is separate from George’s current criticism, which arose from a disagreement about Macklemore’s political speech and Faith’s reaction to it.

A Wider Debate Over Political Speech

The controversy illustrates the continuing dispute over whether musicians should use large entertainment events to make statements about international conflicts.

Macklemore’s supporters have treated his intervention as an expression of solidarity with Palestinians and a call for an end to violence.

His critics have argued that a concert connected to Sheeran’s tour was not an appropriate setting for what they viewed as a partisan political message.

The resulting debate has involved performers, political advocacy groups and concert audiences, rather than being limited to the personal disagreement between George and Faith.

George’s intervention has added a celebrity dispute to that broader argument, with Faith’s reported support for Macklemore becoming the focus of his criticism.

As of September 10, reports reviewed for this article confirm George’s remarks, Macklemore’s concert statements and the petition seeking Macklemore’s removal from the tour, but do not document a response from Sheeran or Faith addressing George’s latest post.

Bonomolo told Out that he relocated from New York City to North Carolina after being cast in the Fayetteville theatre’s upcoming production. Reports said he was dismissed the day before rehearsals were scheduled to begin, during a meeting held approximately an hour before his first call time.

Bonomolo said the theatre did not provide an official explanation for ending his contract. He alleged, however, that he was informally told the decision was connected to his history in adult films and his former OnlyFans activity.

The reported dismissal has not been independently established as having been caused by Bonomolo’s adult-entertainment work, because Cape Fear Regional Theatre had not publicly confirmed that explanation in the reports reviewed.

What Bonomolo said

Bonomolo discussed the incident in videos posted to Instagram, according to Out. The reports said he described the termination as related to his past “involvement in sex work, OnlyFans, and studio porn.”

In a statement reported by Out, Bonomolo pointed to what he described as an irony involving the production itself. He said Bright Star portrays a person who is shunned and punished for being sexually active and making personal choices, while he had been dismissed from that same production because of his own past.

Bonomolo also criticized what he characterized as a double standard in theatre: performers may be praised for portraying strippers, sex workers, or sexually liberated characters, while people with real-life experience in adult entertainment may face professional consequences. He urged his online audience to support people working in the adult-film industry.

The reports identified Bonomolo’s former adult-content name as Troye Jacobs. Out reported that Bonomolo said he had not filmed adult content in more than a year and had stopped using the social-media account associated with that work.

The production

Cape Fear Regional Theatre lists Bright Star as part of its 2026–27 season. The theatre describes the musical as inspired by a true story and centered on a North Carolina setting, with a bluegrass score by Steve Martin and Edie Brickell. Local reporting said the production was scheduled to run from September 10 through September 27, 2026.

The musical’s stated themes contributed to Bonomolo’s criticism of the reported decision. His account connects the production’s fictional treatment of sexual stigma with what he says was a real-world employment decision based on his own sexual history and adult work.

Cape Fear Regional Theatre had not responded to requests for comment cited in the coverage reviewed. The theatre’s public website promotes *Bright Star* but does not, in the material reviewed, provide a public explanation for Bonomolo’s departure from the cast.

Employment and privacy questions

The case has drawn attention to the professional risks faced by people whose past adult work becomes known in another industry. The reports do not establish whether Bonomolo’s contract contained provisions concerning outside employment, public conduct, online content, or reputational concerns.

They also do not establish whether the theatre’s decision violated any employment law or contractual obligation. Any legal assessment would depend on facts not publicly documented in the available coverage, including the terms of the agreement, the theatre’s stated reason, and the applicable law.

The available reporting therefore supports a narrower conclusion: Bonomolo says he was removed from the production after his former adult-entertainment work was discovered, while the theatre has not publicly verified that account or supplied a competing explanation in the sources reviewed.

As of September 10, 2026, the public dispute remains based primarily on Bonomolo’s account and published reporting about it. Further comment from Cape Fear Regional Theatre could clarify whether the stated reason for the termination was related to adult-entertainment work or to another matter.

The latest image is the most recent reported development surrounding Forty Love as the film moves toward its planned French theatrical release. French film outlet AlloCiné also lists Beckham and Kircher among the film’s leading performers and gives November 25, 2026, as the French release date.

The new picture does not establish an international release schedule beyond France, and no confirmed release date for other territories was identified in the recent reporting reviewed for this article.

Beckham’s Acting Debut

Forty Love marks Romeo Beckham’s first reported feature-film acting role. Beckham is the son of former footballer David Beckham and designer and former Spice Girls member Victoria Beckham.

Before moving into acting, Beckham was publicly associated with football, tennis and fashion modelling. The film therefore represents a move into a new creative field for the 23-year-old, whose public profile has largely been connected to his family, sport and fashion work.

Available reporting identifies Beckham as playing a charismatic new challenger whose arrival affects the competitive and personal life of Kircher’s character. The precise character name assigned to Beckham has not been consistently stated in the recent coverage reviewed.

Kircher Plays Tennis Prospect Sacha Gallo

Kircher plays Sacha Gallo, a young tennis player preparing for a major competition in Paris. Earlier industry reporting described Sacha as a tennis prodigy pursuing major sporting success under the close supervision of his father, who also serves as his coach.

The film’s central premise places sporting ambition alongside an attraction between rivals. Reporting has characterized the project as a queer or LGBTQ+ tennis romance, with the arrival of Beckham’s character threatening both Sacha’s championship ambitions and his established understanding of himself.

The available descriptions do not indicate whether the film is based on real people or events. The story is presented as a fictional drama situated within elite tennis.

Cast and Creative Team

Forty Love is directed by Pierre-Ange Carlotti, a fashion photographer making his feature-film directing debut. Studiocanal is handling global sales and is distributing the film in France.

The principal cast includes Kircher, Beckham, Guillaume Canet and Benjamin Voisin. Catherine Deneuve is also listed among the cast in industry coverage of the project.

Kircher is known internationally for his work in French cinema, including The Animal Kingdom. Canet and Voisin are also established French performers, while Deneuve is one of the country’s most internationally recognized actors.

The film’s production status has been described as post-production in recent coverage. No trailer or complete public synopsis was identified in the sources reviewed.

Release Plans

Studiocanal has scheduled Forty Love for release in French cinemas on November 25, 2026. AlloCiné lists the same date for the film’s French theatrical release.

The distributor’s involvement means that international sales are being managed by a company with an established global film operation. However, the sources reviewed do not provide confirmed dates for releases in the United Kingdom, United States or other international markets.

The newly published image arrives less than three months before the planned French opening and gives audiences a further look at the pairing at the center of the film. Beyond the image and the announced cast and release date, further details about the film’s marketing campaign and international distribution remain unconfirmed.

Frontman Caleb Followill was working on new music last spring and about to join his bandmates on a European tour when he broke his foot playing with his kids one night before bed.

“I thought I was in better shape than I was and so I was going to hurdle the couch to make the epic tag,” he says, laughing. Instead, he got a foot caught in the couch, stumbled and went down. “It was a gnarly, gnarly break.”

Followill was upset, feeling he was letting everyone down. After a few days of wallowing in self-pity, he picked up a guitar. What came out surprised him: It was stripped bare, like the music that he and his drummer brother Nathan had written before there was a four-time Grammy Award-winning Kings of Leon.

So out went the four or five electric-leaning songs that he and the band had been exploring. In quickly came a clutch of new stripped-down tunes, more melancholic than bombastic, about gratitude and family. The 13-track album is called “O My Beloved” and it's out Nov. 6.

“The songs just took on a different meaning, and so all the songs that we had been working on, they no longer were as attractive to me,” says Caleb Followill. “I feel like just the whole temperature changed around us. And we realized that we’re going to make something a little more significant.”

What did the rest of the band think? They had to change course, too, after all. “I’m happy with the direction,” says Nathan Followill. “I think it might be my kids' favorite record.”

The first single is a scene of domestic bliss

The first single, “My Whole World,” out Thursday, is a perfect taste of the way the band was now leaning. It poured out of Caleb Followill after the whole tag accident.

While he and bandmates — brothers Nathan and Jared and cousin Matthew Followill — called off their European tour, and Caleb's family was preparing for a cruise, he was glancing at their countdown on the wall when these words came out: “29 days 'till our ship comes in/We’ll be together again.”

“My Whole World” is a scene of domestic bliss — with references to “peanut butter pie” and a “pin oak tree” and tossing a football around while babies coo. “I’m grateful / Each day for / My whole world,” he sings. A video for the single features old home footage of the boys growing up — Christmas mornings, goofing around and swimming holes.

Caleb Followill says he was nervous to debut the acoustic-led song to the other guys, in part because he didn't normally play his guitar that way and because the lyrics made him emotional.

“I wasn’t in control of it. The words were just coming out,” he says. He thought of his mom dying and all the feelings he had put aside as a busy dad and rock and roller for the past quarter century.

“We have already surpassed anything we ever imagined we could do and we’ve built something that’s so beautiful,” he says. “So, as opposed to having a 25-year anniversary where we kind of put out the greatest hits or something, I thought, wouldn’t it be beautiful to make an album that is looking back on all of the things that we’ve done and appreciating how we got here?”

Bassist Jared Followill says the band was free to explore this new direction since the new album would be the first time they would be producing themselves.

“The songs just really started to pile up one after another and it became apparent that there could be something there and let’s just dive in,” he says. “No hesitation from us.”

‘O My Beloved’ includes song inspired by childhood

One album highlight is the joyful, laid-back “KOYSAR” for “Kick Off Your Shoes and Run,” in which Caleb Followill uses his childhood memories of romping around with his siblings to inspire his own kids.

“Kick off your shoes and run/Don’t let them turn you away/Your life is better when/You have something to say,” he sings.

“All I could picture was our childhood, running through sprinklers and my kids and those little simple moments,” he says. “You’re always trying to teach your kids something, and I feel the best way to do that is through your experience and through the mistakes that you’ve made and how you’ve gotten to where you are.”

On “Such a Pretty Thing,” he writes tenderly about a high school sweetheart, singing, “I like to lay in the light of the moon/And think about the summer that I had with you.”

“That was the kind of songs that we wanted to write, and then we started the band and kind of went a different direction. But on this album, I feel like we kind of got back to that,” says Caleb Followill. “We finally got to do it on album 10.”

The title track is unconventional, too. It's a musical interlude that has the title on it, a tiny, lo-fi slice of Caleb Followill singing and playing captured on a smartphone in the wet and cold outside the band's Nashville studio with the sound of a train rumbling by.

“It turned out really, really cool and so we kept it,” says Jared Followill.

Locke captioned the post: “Summer of friends, fun, and duck tattoos in Ibiza.”

The post was reported by Queerty on September 9 and by Attitude and PinkNews on September 10.

The three reports independently describe the design as a small duck placed under or near Locke’s armpit.

Neither of the reports identifies the tattoo artist, gives a confirmed explanation for the duck design or states definitively that it is Locke’s first tattoo.

Who appears in the carousel

The photographs include Locke with fellow Heartstopper actor Tobie Donovan and with Dylan Mulvaney.

Another image shows Locke taking his mother on a ride aboard the Orient Express.

The carousel also includes an image of Locke with Rob Jetten, the Netherlands’ prime minister.

The reports do not provide dates or locations for every photograph in the carousel, so the available coverage does not establish that each image was taken in Ibiza.

What Locke’s caption does establish is that Ibiza was associated with the “duck tattoos” referenced in his description of the summer.

A small personal update during a major career year

The tattoo reveal arrives as Locke moves beyond the role that made him internationally known.

Locke played Charlie Spring in Netflix’s Heartstopper, the LGBTQ+ coming-of-age series based on Alice Oseman’s graphic novels.

The feature-length conclusion, Heartstopper Forever, was released on Netflix in July 2026 and brought Charlie and Nick Nelson’s story to an end after three seasons.

Locke served as an executive producer on the film alongside his co-star Kit Connor.

The film follows Charlie and Nick as they face university and the possibility of a long-distance relationship.

According to Attitude, Locke described completing the franchise as feeling like “graduation.”

That transition has also included work in the Marvel television series Agatha All Along, in which Locke played Billy Maximoff, also known as Wiccan.

Upcoming screen work

Locke is scheduled to appear alongside Andrew Scott and Olivia Colman in Elsinore, a film about the final years of actor Ian Charleson.

He is also due to appear in the thriller Black Church Bay.

Both films were reported as scheduled to feature at the 2026 London Film Festival.

PinkNews separately reported on September 4 that first-look images had been released for Black Church Bay, describing it as a queer mystery thriller starring Locke and Tom Cullen.

The film was described as centering on the dark unraveling of a relationship between a teacher and a student.

No source reporting the Ibiza post connects the duck tattoo to any of Locke’s film or television roles.

What is confirmed

The confirmed development is limited but clear: Locke shared a summer photo carousel, referred to Ibiza and “duck tattoos” in its caption, and displayed a small duck design beneath his arm.

The available reporting does not confirm when the tattoo was made, who designed it, why Locke chose a duck or whether he has other tattoos.

For now, the Ibiza reference remains a brief personal note in Locke’s summer retrospective, while the wider significance of the post lies in its glimpse of the actor’s friendships, family time and life after Heartstopper

The clip, released ahead of the series’ appearance at the BFI London Film Festival, shows Scott playing a therapist who meets Ethan, a character portrayed by the show’s creator and star, Leo Reich.

The exchange begins as a therapy session but turns into an explicitly sexual encounter, including a kiss and other provocative physical contact between the two characters.

In the scene, Scott’s character tells Ethan, “You’re just a hole for daddy,” before the interaction escalates. The clip also includes the therapist telling Ethan that he is “valid and worthy etc.”

The material has been described by the outlets covering it as not safe for work because of its sexual language and imagery.

The Series’ Premise

It Gets Worse is a six-part comedy created, written by and starring Reich.

The series follows Ethan, Abi and Sam, three university friends and housemates whose lives are disrupted when they face eviction from their London home.

The BFI describes the programme as a comedy about friendship, housing, work and relationships, with the three central characters confronting the pressures of early adulthood in London.

The principal cast includes Reich, Emily Fairn and Olive Gray. Scott appears as one of the production’s guest performers, alongside Lena Dunham and other cameo actors.

Channel 4 commissioned the series from A24, which is producing the programme for the British broadcaster. The production consists of six episodes of approximately 30 minutes each.

The title presents a deliberate contrast with the familiar phrase “It Gets Better,” which has been used by LGBTQ+ organisations and advocates to communicate hope and support to LGBTQ+ young people.

The available descriptions frame the series as a comedy about young adults dealing with housing insecurity, unsatisfying work and complicated relationships rather than as a programme specifically about Andrew Scott’s character.

Scott’s Role and the Online Response

Scott’s appearance is a cameo rather than a leading role in the series. His character is introduced as Ethan’s therapist, although the scene quickly moves beyond the boundaries normally associated with a professional therapy appointment.

Coverage of the clip has focused on its sexual content and on Scott’s presence in the scene.

Mashable reported that the clip features Ethan discussing his distress with the therapist before the therapist kisses him. The outlet characterized the clip’s online circulation as evidence that the scene had quickly become a prominent talking point around the programme.

PinkNews identified Scott as an openly gay actor and noted that his previous screen work includes All of Us Strangers. Scott’s role in It Gets Worse is fictional, and the available reporting does not indicate that the scene reflects the actor’s personal experiences or views.

The scene’s depiction of a therapist engaging sexually with a client is presented as part of the show’s comic fiction. The sources reviewed do not report any allegation of misconduct involving Scott or the production.

Festival Premiere and Release Plans

It Gets Worse is scheduled to premiere at the 70th BFI London Film Festival on October 14, 2026.

The festival is scheduled to run from October 7 through October 18. The festival programme identifies the series as a new work from Reich and highlights cameos by Scott and Dunham.

The first three episodes are scheduled to screen at the festival. Channel 4 is expected to make the series available in the UK after the festival screening.

In Canada, the series is scheduled to stream exclusively on Crave as a Crave Original. The sources reviewed do not identify an announced U.S. distributor or release date.

The newly released clip therefore offers an early indication of the show’s deliberately provocative tone, while the broader series is being positioned as an ensemble comedy about friendship, housing and precarious adulthood.

The image was included in a narrated video shown on the arena’s jumbotron alongside footage and commentary directed at progressive political figures and the political left.

The display took place at the American Airlines Center, where the Republican event was being held on September 9 and 10.

Reporting did not identify a separate explanation from Republican organizers for why the photograph was selected or how it was intended to advance the video’s broader political message.

The photograph was not presented as a live appearance by Piker, and available reporting described it as an image sourced from his social-media content.

Piker’s Reaction

Piker later watched footage of the convention display during a livestream and reacted with surprise and laughter.

“No f---ing shot,” Piker said while reacting to the footage, according to Reuters.

Newsweek reported that Piker also said, “They f**king posted the meat pic!” while watching the image appear behind the convention stage.

Piker subsequently shared footage of the moment on social media and referred to the image as his “meat pic” in an accompanying post.

The reports described the photograph as showing Piker in underwear, with part of the image blurred, rather than as a fully nude image.

Piker is a political commentator and livestreamer whose public work has focused heavily on U.S. politics and progressive political issues.

The Grindr Connection

Reports of interruptions affecting Grindr users in Dallas emerged as the Republican convention began, creating a second, related online storyline.

The San Antonio Current reported that Downdetector, a service that collects user-submitted reports of problems with online services, showed Dallas as the largest location for complaints about Grindr at the time of its reporting.

Social-media users quickly connected the reported service problems with the Republican gathering, and jokes about the convention circulated online.

The available reports did not establish that convention attendees caused the reported interruptions.

They also did not establish that Piker was using Grindr, that he had a Grindr account, or that he was involved in any reported outage.

Any claim that the Grindr reports were caused by people attending the convention remains unverified.

Context and Verification

The Republican gathering was described as an unusual midterm convention held in Texas before the 2026 midterm elections.

The Guardian reported that Republicans assembled in Texas as the party sought to rally supporters and address political concerns surrounding President Donald Trump and the approaching midterm elections.

The use of Piker’s image placed a recognizable online political personality inside a convention video otherwise aimed at presenting a broader partisan message.

The episode also illustrates the difference between a verified public event and the interpretations that follow it online.

The convention displayed the photograph, and Piker publicly reacted to that display; the available reporting does not prove a connection between the event and Grindr’s reported Dallas interruptions.

As of September 10, reporting had not documented a formal response from the Republican National Committee explaining the image’s inclusion.

They’re changing — at least for the moment — the name of the popular series, which just won the Emmy for outstanding animated program.

In a statement posted on the show’s Instagram page, creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone say they are “changing the name of South Park to SOUTH AMERICA.” The statement comes as Trump, escalating his trade war with Canada, has declared he's renaming Lake Ontario to be known as “Lake America” in the United States.

It coincides with changes in popular maps

The move by the two satirists, a week before the 29th season premiere of “South Park” — er, “SOUTH AMERICA” — also takes aim at Apple and Google, which have adopted Trump’s changes, as well as the show's own parent company.

Apple has relabeled Lake Ontario to “Lake America” for U.S. users of its Maps app, following cartographic competitor Google.

“Inspired by the bravery and patriotism of Apple and Google, we are changing the name of South Park to SOUTH AMERICA. We especially want to thank our parent company Paramount — a Skydance Capitulation."

The hugely successful “South Park” airs on Paramount-owned Comedy Central. Parker and Stone have taken aim at Paramount’s merger with Skydance. But in July 2025, Paramount announced a five-year renewal deal with Parker and Stone, including streaming rights for previous “South Park” seasons on Paramount+.

During his second term, Trump has also signed an executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America” even though parts of it lie in international waters. Apple and Google maps also followed suit in that case.

Also in line with Trump's enthusiasm for renaming things — after America, or after himself — he suggested this week that New Mexico be renamed “New America,” though it was uncertain whether that was serious.

He also arranged for the Kennedy Center to add his name to its building, a move that has triggered much controversy.

The show's creators have needled Trump before

The decision to rename the show is not the only jab Parker and Stone have recently taken at Trump.

“You finally got your Emmy,” the show posted on Instagram along with a cartoon depiction of the president — with his pants down, surrounded by the show's characters. A recent storyline on the show depicted Trump as romantically involved with Satan.

Canada, too, has not gone unnoticed by the show. In 1999, its foray onto the big screen, “South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut,” depicted Canadians as scapegoats of a national parental movement to stop children from swearing — which they blamed on comedians from Canada named “Terrance and Phillip.”

The movie was structured like a Broadway musical, and one of the key “show tunes” it presented was called “Blame Canada.” Its overall point: People can find a way to blame anyone for anything. “It seems that everything's gone wrong since Canada came along,” one character sang.

Other targets of the show's sharp parody over the years have been Saddam Hussein, Tom Cruise, the soft drink Prime and GLP-1 weight-loss drugs.

“Everyone is always saying if you could make a play and give the audience the feeling they have in a horror movie, it would be an amazing thing,” he says.

Blum, whose Blumhouse has produced everything from “Get Out” to “Five Nights at Freddy's,” estimates he's gone to see 25 such plays, and 24 times “they come off goofy or you’re not scared at all.” That changed with his 25th — an adaptation of his “Paranormal Activity” franchise.

“I’ve never seen a play that’s made me scared ever and these guys pulled it off,” says Blum. “That they were able to make an audience feel like you felt when you watch the movie, I just couldn’t believe it.”

What's the play about?

The play, which has made its way through London, Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington D.C., San Francisco, Toronto and Boston, is now on Broadway and is creeping out critics and audiences alike.

It's the story of a newly married couple who have relocated from Chicago to London and find strange things going on in their quirky new home, straining their loyalties and sanity and defying science.

The stage play — without film's benefit of cutaways, close-ups or jump scares — still makes audiences scream with quite simple effects: a TV flickering, candles getting snuffed out, shadows appearing and blankets mysteriously getting pulled.

“I think the lack of big effects actually makes it feel much more grounded and scarier and more real,” says Blum, who knows a thing or two about horror effects: He was off-camera on the floor pulling a sheet off a bed with strings during the filming of the first “Paranormal Activity” movie.

Variety said the play “delivers more thrills, chills and screams than Broadway has seen in years” and Entertainment Weekly called it “two hours and 20 minutes of hair-raising, heart-pounding, and blood-curdling horror mixed with a dash of unexpected heart and humor.”

Blum credits playwright Levi Holloway, director Felix Barrett and illusion designer Chris Fisher with bringing horror to the stage, a traditionally tricky place for it. He opened his wallet and invested.

How the team approached this stage horror

Broadway has pulled off eerie recently — Fisher delivered thrillingly with “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” and “Stranger Things: The First Shadow,” while Tracy Letts' “Bug” was creepy and Stephen Karam had unsettling noises for “The Humans." But true horror, that sickening, throat-clenching dread, has largely eluded stage artists.

That's why Barrett, who created the immersive hit “Sleep No More” with his company Punchdrunk, jumped at the chance. He recalls as a fledgling director going to see London's long-running ghostly play “The Woman in Black” and feeling it was “desperately underwhelming.”

“The opportunities to try and do something which really does get under the skin and really just treats it as an art form rather than something that’s comedic and full of gags was such an amazing opportunity,” he says.

Central to his team's approach was rooting the play in a truthful domestic drama. “This was only going to work if you saw a couple that you knew. You might walk past them in the street. You might even see yourself in that couple,” Barrett says.

Once that was established, the illusions and effects were baked into the set, not added afterward. Designer Fly Davis’ two-story, multiroom house is kept very dark, with some rooms empty, allowing the audience's imagination to fill in the gaps.

“You really want to almost forget it’s horror for a bit, just actually deal with the drama and then, suddenly, like the best sort of horror, the tendrils of dread come and tap you on the shoulder and, as you turn around, all hell breaks loose,” Barrett says.

‘Less is more’

Aided by lighting, sound effects and the set, Barrett manages various sleights-of-hands, like a magician making you look at one hand while their other is doing something else.

“We’ve learned that less is more,” he says. “The more you do, the less the impact because the audience becomes desensitized. So actually, in earlier drafts of the script, there were far more crazy things happening which we’ve cut.”

Humor is also important, and Holloway has seeded the play with jokes, moments of lightness between the couple and a mother-in-law from hell.

“If you get the audience to relax and start laughing, you become much more scared," says Blum. “You can’t keep an audience on the edge of their seat like this for 90 minutes. Eventually you get tired.”

Barrett says he hopes more theater-makers try horror, but find their own way. “I don’t want to say, ‘This is the right way to do it and don’t try a different way,’ because I want other amazing creators to come in and do their version.”