ESCAPISM by Gregory Bray succeds in portraying the effect of a haunting past on an individual’s present and view. The lighting and sound create an elusive and creepy enviroment, also managing to bring some vengeful toys alive – a sweet but now corrupted link to the past; they are now actors in the theatre of the protagonist’s smothering traumas. The confusion is fueled by a sense of powerlessness. In front of the fears of the past, a man is never alone, the world around is never silent. In the war against the past there are no winners. Guy Friendly has to fossilize in his past to try and overcome it. The way the toys are vivified is intelligent, for it makes the public guess the emotional burden they create on the protagonist while keeping them still and, because of that, not menacing to us. We have to immerge ourselves in Guy Friendly’s view to live his fears.