A Year of Gothic - January 2026

In 2026, I’m exploring theatre, film, and fiction through a Gothic lens. Each month revolves around a key stage show, paired with films and novels that echo, extend, or twist its themes. The goal is to step outside my usual choices, dive into stories that unsettle, delight, or surprise, and see familiar genres in a new light. From fairy-tale forests to shadowed halls, the year promises a journey through imagination, consequence, and a little delicious darkness. Read more about my plans for the first six months here.

January – Into the Woods Venue: The Bridge Theatre, London

Theme: Fairy-Tale Gothic: Innocence, Consequence and the Dark Forest

Sondheim and Lapine dismantled the logic of fairy tales by following the story beyond wish fulfilment. Once the wishes were granted, characters were left to live with the consequences of their choices. The woods became a liminal Gothic space where innocence could not be preserved, community fractured, and moral responsibility weighed heavily. This month explored how familiar narratives could be unsettling once examined closely, and how the boundaries between wonder and danger often blurred.

The films extended this idea across different interpretations of the fairy-tale world. Into the Woods (2014) showed characters facing the fallout of their wishes, while The Singing Ringing Tree (1957) presented a stark, surreal landscape where ambition, greed, and desire had direct consequences. Tale of Tales (2015) offered a darkly baroque vision of myth, obsession, and human folly. Tideland (2005) brought the Gothic into a modern setting, following a child navigating a bizarre, threatening world through imagination and play, showing how innocence and fantasy coexist with the grotesque and uncanny.

Similarly, the novels mirrored the theme of liminal, magical worlds where moral consequences lingered. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern depicted performers bound by mysterious rules in a wondrous, shadowed circus where every choice carried weight, while The Binding by Bridget Collins explored memory, desire, and magic, showing how the past could haunt the present and ordinary life could become uncanny. Both works emphasized that the wonder of fairy tales often came with hidden darkness.

Taken together, January became a month of thresholds and reflection. The combination of theatre, films, and novels highlighted how fairy-tale worlds could be Gothic, morally complex, and psychologically rich, setting the tone for the months to follow.

Films: Into the Woods (2014) The Singing Ringing Tree (1957) Tale of Tales (2015) Tideland (2005)

Fiction: The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern The Binding by Bridget Collins