Stage Review - The Manor (MAP Theatre)

Stage Review - The Manor
Presented By: MAP Theatre - Seattle, WA
Show Run: October 17 - November 01, 2025
Date Reviewed: Saturday, November 01, 2025 (Closing)
Run Time: 2 Hours, 5 Minutes (inclusive of a 15-minute intermission)
Reviewed By: Sameer Arshad

Home-ownership is a helluva drug. A status symbol that helps people convince themselves they have made it in life. An inter-generational family treasure that is supposed to establish the power of an existing or emerging dynasty. A sign of success in the form of a spacious, quiet hearth. A homebase for the ambitions of you and your family. But what happens when this alleged symbol of accomplishment itself becomes the bane of your existence? What happens when the home has a mind of its own, with its own goals that are in conflict with your own?

In The Manor, beloved Seattle playwright Kelleen Conway Blanchard introduces these questions to us in her signature comedy-horror style. We have all the Blanchard elements we are always hungry for: hilariously complex and creepy characters, existential dread served as situational dramedy, underlying social commentary on the state of our perpetually dissatisfied societal conscience. But in The Manor, we now explore the horrors of home ownership, or, dare I say it, your home becoming spiritually possessed and then turning the tables to possess you right back.

In six scenes that span decades of time but situated in the same place, we explore various generations of the Blackmore family, who seem to keep meeting untimely demises at their estate in Yelm, WA, known as The Manor. An effective and skilled ensemble takes multiple roles across these scenes, telling a story of several family members who come into the wealth and prestige that the Manor grants to them, only to be done-in by their own shortcomings, supernaturally over-amplified by the Manor itself.

There are several excellent performances presented to us. Meg Carleton skillfully brings us several formidable female characters across the ages, all strategically trying to take control of quickly devolving situations around them. Each character gives us an indication that “she knows what’s up” while also being unable to stop what’s coming due to the people around her never fully embracing her plans. Meg brings this relatable theme to us in a delightfully horrifying way, making us wonder, how cutthroat do we need to be to get ahead?

Sarah Rose Nottingham expertly presents three very intriguing characters across time, who all keep wanting to help and resolve problems around them, but end up just metastasizing those problems even further, into murkier depths. Each of these women come in with that “why did you even get involved?” kind of energy. Sarah’s thoughtfully crafted performances captivate the audience while also catalyzing the Manor’s own ambitious promise: don’t try to help, it only makes things worse.

Dylan Smith comes forth with incredible versatility as an actor: from a tragic-comic macho man to a wildly despondent widow and everything in between. He demonstrates to us the far-flung corner limits where human beings find themselves desperately pushed into by the systems around them. The expectations put upon us of what is proper and acceptable become a new kind of horror in and of themselves. With Dylan’s characters consistently being told to “keep calm and carry on, whatever the circumstances”, we witness Dylan’s experienced craft in action, as he systematically dismantles these people down before us in fascinating comprehensive perplexity.

When you sign up to watch horror theatre, you expect to meet some kind of villain who you know is going to make your skin crawl. With Brandon Ryan’s character The Duchess, you get exactly that. A mad scientist experimenting with animals is an open-and-shut case of “oh that nasty baddie” that we love to watch.  But it was Brandon’s other performance, playing the enigmatic Brummie Blackstone, that really blew my mind. Here we have a wealthy gay disabled cis man presenting with all the trappings of privilege, working with a detective to find out who is making death threats against him. At first we are made to hate this character, as we are introduced to his unpleasant perspectives and unsavory deeds. But over time, as we learn more about him through Brandon’s profound heartfelt monologues, in our minds he changes from a villain to an anti-hero, and then, to someone you can actually empathize with. Brandon very proficiently takes us on an emotional rollercoaster with this character as we learn to second-guess our own habits of judging someone too early.

Lucien Oberleitner does double duty as the director of the production and playing several characters, including the detective mentioned above. Each of these characters has secrets: identities, weapons, skills, that deliver important plot-twisting moments that are thrilling to watch. Whether it is cathartic confrontation, complex physical choreography, mysterious character portrayal or a hidden talent for navigating the Occult, we witness Lucien’s brilliant command of stagecraft, as they deftly sway and steer scene control, as both actor and director, to deliver unto us a devastatingly enjoyable sense of resolution by the end of the show.

Director-actor is a unique position to be for a production. It’s not for beginners. But Lucien is no novice, they are a paragon of technique and expertise. Lucien plays in “hard mode” and wins, and enables their cast to win as a team alongside them.

In a sublime and memorable ensemble performance and a powerful thought-provoking script, The Manor teaches us that despite our best efforts for gathering power, prestige and sanctuary, there will always be an element of chaos and entropy that can scrap our best-laid plans. Those who refuse to accept change will perish at the hand of it. Those who embrace the flow of change will survive long enough to witness the dawning of new eras and new perspectives.

The MAP Theatre production of The Manor has closed, but to keep up to date with the theatre and its upcoming shows, head to https://www.map-theatre.com/.

Photo credit: Sayed Alamy