My frightful time

10:45am Saturday 16th August 2008

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How does it feel to scare people for a living? CHARLOTTE PERCIVAL dons a costume and finds out.

IF THERE is one thing you can say about working at York Dungeon, it is that no two days are the same.

Whether you are jumping out to scare people, demonstrating torture implements or walking around looking crazed, you can never guarantee the public’s reaction. Some people, explains Mark Pollard, 24, an assistant performance supervisor, will be sick – or faint.

“That does happen quite often, and it’s not unusual really if you think about the kind of environment the dungeon is,” he says, lurking in the shadows of a dark passage in between the Labyrinth Of The Lost feature and Gorvik.

“There are lots of gory things and some people don’t find it a nice place to be. I’m a first aider though and we deal with things like that very quickly. We are very used to it.”

Mark has been acting in York Dungeon since he was 16, and today, he is teaching me the ropes.

My day starts at 9am, when marketing coordinator Krissi Neal transforms my face, tanned from two weeks in the sun, into a ghostly, bloody mess.

“All of the actors are great with makeup,” she says, applying white grease paint with a sponge.

“They have make-up master classes, then learn how to do it themselves and they all look fantastic when they have finished.”

Around me, civilised human beings are becoming beggars, doctors, judges, plague victims and crazed street folk.

The more grease paint is slapped on, the louder the voices become, and as they move into position around the dungeon, you can hear chains dragging, plague victims dying and torturous, terrifying screams.

Today, I am a poor peasant woman, with a pale, haggard face, a long red skirt, a ragged shirt, a waistcoat and a bright, bouncy ginger wig.

Almost as soon as I put them on, I feel more confident.

Mark takes me to the place we will be working and shows me the best hiding places from which to scare the living daylight out of unsuspecting visitors.

“It’s all about timing,” he says. “It doesn’t really matter what you say, or what you look like, it is about getting the timing right, and making a lot of noise.”

His preferred method is to leap from the shadows, stamping his foot like a thunderbolt and shouting loudly.

“Keep on moving” is a good one in this particular spot, he tells me, and as it is so dark, no one will expect you to be there.

We receive a message that the first group is about seven minutes away, and get into position.

This time, I just watch, as a curious group of about 12 gingerly step into the corridor, and almost jump back out again as Mark steps forth.

“I don’t like it, I want to go home,” whimpers a young girl. Behind the curtain, I start to smile. “I mean it, I want to go home,” she says. Her parents don’t look too brave, either.

Then, it is my turn. As Erik Bloodaxe does his worst to the crowd I am waiting to petrify, I press myself tightly against the wall, trying to control my trembling legs and racing heart.

A little girl and four adults walk by and although they notice me, they walk straight on.

Then, I pounce. “Keep on moving!” I growl with a stamp of my foot, before leaping from the shadows.

I can’t print the reaction I received, but I made my point – and it felt great “That was good,” says Mark, emerging from behind the column where he had been hiding.

“What you’re aiming for is the ripple effect – you might scare one person and suddenly everyone catches on. It is different every time and it doesn’t always work, but you got a few people there.”

There are plenty of opportunities for actors to scare the public in the dungeons, and they don’t all involve jumping out from the shadows.

There is the Labyrinth Of The Lost, buried deep beneath York Minster, where every treacherous turn takes you further into the hidden realm of the lost Roman legion; the Dick Turpin feature, a gory talk about implements of torture; a Ghosts Of York experience; and many more.

The actors all undergo a rigorous audition process with plenty of improvisation tasks, before thorough training and work shadowing in the dungeon.

So don’t worry if you are one of the fainters – you are in safe hands.

How to recreate dungeon makeup looks at home...

It is easy to recreate the dungeon ghost face, says marketing coordinator Krissi Neal. The main ingredients are white face paint, grey/brown/red face paint and lots of fake blood. These few make-up essentials can create many different looks and are used by the actors everyday.

The main thing is to have fun. Remember to apply makeup in the most hygienic way, using a clean sponge and washing brushes after each person. To help the make up stay on and to look after the skin, your face must be washed and moisturised.

Poor peasant woman:

Using a sponge, apply white grease paint over your face and down your neck. With a wide brush, mix grey and brown colours and draw lines around the eyes to create bags.

Gently blend the colours around the eye to create a sunken effect so when you scrunch up your face, little lines appear. They are good to use as a base for age lines, created with a brush and a brown/grey colour. For lots of blood and gore, smear red face paint across parts of your face, then apply lots of blood over the top.

Ghostly old man:

For a simple but effective look, apply white face paint to your whole face, then hollow out your face by sucking in your cheeks, then blend grey into the hollows.

Colour grey in a big circle around your eyes to hollow them out and make them look deep set, then using your fingers, apply a blob of red and blend underneath the eye, applying lots of blood on top. Get lots of runny blood on your fingers and flick it over your face, so it looks like you have been splattered.

The plague look:

Apply white all over your face, making sure it is evenly blended. Use more grey around the sides of the face to create a ghostly effect.

Using your grey, hollow in the eye area and go over the top with a little bit of red to make the eyes looks really sore. Use fresh scratch blood to apply large chunks to various parts of the face, to make you look like you have the plague.

The York Dungeon, 12 Clifford Street, York, 01904 632599, www.thedungeons.com Tickets: £12.95 adult/£8.95 child. Opening hours: 10am to 5.30pm.