As a native New Yorker, I've seen my fair share of theater, but I've never experienced anything that left my jaw on the floor like Stranger Things: The First Shadow. Directed by Stephen Daldry and written by Stranger Things veteran Kate Trefry (who took home an Olivier Award for the script), the show isn't just stagecraft, it's sorcery, and easily one of the most electrifying theater experiences I've ever had.
The play is a prequel to the Netflix series, set in 1959 Hawkins, Indiana, and tells the villain origin story of Vecna (Henry Creel) while featuring younger versions of beloved characters like Hopper, Joyce, and Dr. Brenner as they uncover early occurrences of the Upside Down.
A hallmark of the experience is the sheer scale and spectacle of its special effects, which defy the physical limits of live theater. Multiple moments feel flat-out impossible to stage, and yet, there they are right before your eyes.
Endless pyrotechnics, levitation and telekinesis, cinematic action set-pieces, transformations, gore, and creature effects (including a towering Mind Flayer) are all delivered through seamless stagecraft that plays like live-action film editing.
As I watched, I kept thinking of something special effects legend Steve Johnson (Fright Night, Ghostbusters, Species) once said about the power of practical effects in film: “It was all about going into that darkened theatre and hearing the audience gasp and knowing that I had created magic. But now, even if you do pull off a good special effect, the audience assumes it's done digitally, so that magic is gone.”
Those gasps Steve is talking about? I heard them during this show for the first time in years. Including from myself. Then it occurred to me: in this CGI-saturated age, with the looming threat of AI, the new magic is in in-person theatre — impossible spectacles that unfold before us, leaving us wondering, how did they do that?
Much of that magic was coordinated and designed by Jamie Harrison and Chris Fisher, who led the illusions and special effects team and were honored with a Special Tony Award. “They're incredible mad geniuses. Ex-magicians,” said writer Kate Trefry. When she first took on the task of penning the play, the marching orders were clear: no limits.
“We said to Kate, don't just write what you think can be achieved on stage,” recalled Fisher. “Write as if you are writing for the TV series — write what you wanna see. And then it's our job to create that in a live theater environment. We said, don't hold back. And she didn't.”
One of the most fascinating elements of Harrison and Fisher's approach stems from their shared background in stage magic, each with decades of experience. Principles like misdirection and sleight of hand weren't just tools — they were foundational to executing the show's most impressive effects.
But designing the illusions was only part of the equation. To truly sell them, the actors had to apply magician principles to their approach and acting. To that end, Harrison and Fisher worked closely with the performers, giving them recurring lessons in the fundamentals of magic to integrate into their performances.
“We train the actors in principles of magic because they're not just performing — they're helping execute the illusion,” added Harrison. “It's not just about the effect, it's about misdirection, timing, and body language. That's how you get 400 people not to notice the hand going into the pocket.“
If designing the illusions wasn't complex enough, Harrison and Fisher also had to engineer them within the constraints of a live theatrical production — where every effect had to reset seamlessly for the next scene. “I had a ton of messy, big ideas,“ writer Kate Trefry admitted. “But then the stage is a mess and there's broken glass and blood everywhere, and you have to do the next scene. So part of the magic trick is figuring out how to elegantly undo the magic after you've done it.“
That balancing act between spectacle and precision, illusion and storytelling — is what gives The First Shadow its edge. Even for Trefry, who was deeply embedded in the process from script to stage, the final product still manages to astonish her.
“Being in my position, I get to see the sausage made from every angle. But then the illusions still give me a sense of magic and wonder, even though I know exactly how they're being done. It's so effective that my disbelief is suspended anyway,“ Trefry added. “It's pretty miraculous.“
That sense of wonder isn't just the result of cutting-edge techniques — it's rooted in a rich lineage of theatrical spectacle that dates back centuries. As Harrison explained, the ideas may feel modern, but they're part of a long-standing tradition.
“People think stage illusions are new, but they're ancient,“ said Harrison. “The Greeks literally had a role called the ‘Worker of Wonders.‘ And Victorian theaters had naval battles onstage, tilting ships, and acrobatics. We're inspired by that history — just doing it safely and reliably eight times a week.“
But the show couldn't be just a technical marvel — it also had to be genuinely scary. The First Shadow skews notably more horror than the Netflix series, leaning hard into jump scares, gore,
and emotionally devastating beats. Pulling off real fear on stage, though, is a whole different beast than on screen.
“Horror on stage is notoriously hard,“ illusions designer Chris Fisher admitted. “It's really difficult to get it right, so that it is scary and it's not funny — because so easily horror can become funny when you've gone too far and it's gone a bit silly. It's a real balance.“
That level of scare requires coordination across departments, from actors to lighting to sound. “The jump scare, for instance, is not just about how much tension you ramp up before that scare happens, but what sound happens with that jump scare? What lighting cue? How do the actors react to that jump scare so that the audience reacts with them?“ The goal isn't just to startle — it's to pull the audience in as participants in the moment.“
Getting all of this right was the result of a painstaking, iterative process — one documented in the Netflix documentary Behind the Curtain: Stranger Things – The First Shadow, which chronicles the show's evolution in the months leading up to its West End premiere. The play was rewritten, re-blocked, and re-choreographed countless times as the team refined every aspect from pacing to scares to performances. Previews proved essential, as the creative team was able to fine-tune the show's rhythm, impact, and effects by sitting with audiences and observing real-time reactions.
“You feel people get bored. You just feel it,“ Kate Trefry said. “You see people start to shift and cough in their seats, and you go, ‘We lost them.‘ How do we get 'em back?“
The result of this intensely collaborative, technically ambitious effort is an astonishing piece of theatre, but The First Shadow hasn't just pushed the boundaries of what stagecraft can do, it's also brought a flood of new audiences into the theater. A significant portion of attendees were
first-time theatergoers, drawn in by the IP and treated to a sensory onslaught of incredible spectacles. It's the kind of experience that could spoil theater for the uninitiated because you can't really follow this up with Brigadoon or Our Town. As Kate Trefry put it: “It's kind of like heroin being your gateway drug.“
Beyond an incredible night at the theatre, for me, it offered something else: hope. Hope for the future of entertainment and live performance. No matter how advanced AI gets, there's an unshakable human need to witness what real, talented people are capable of doing — live, in real time. This show blows the doors off what we've come to expect from live theatre, expanding the boundaries of what the medium can deliver without sacrificing the intimacy and human ingenuity that makes it so powerful.
Stranger Things: The First Shadow is currently playing at the Marquis Theatre on Broadway in New York City and at the Phoenix Theatre in London's West End. Run (like you're being chased by a Demogorgon), don't walk.
Watch the trailer for Stranger Things: The First Shadow below.
