18th-20th October 2013 sees the first ever Lakes International Comic Art Festival. Inspired by legendary illustrator and writer Bryan Talbot (The Adventures of Luther Arkwright, Batman, Magic: The Gathering) the event promises to be the first such festival in the UK to mimic the scale and eclecticism of Continental comic arts festivals. Taking place in Kendal, Cumbria, it will not only feature fascinating exhibitions, talks, screenings and panels with an international array of comic creators, it will also be packed with competitions and fun family events. Lass Productions and Scytheplays are incredibly thrilled that theatre will also play a part in the festival, in the form of our acclaimed production of V for Vendetta.
The performance will be staged with the support of the brilliant students and staff of Kendal College, taking place at The Box, the college's state of the art performance space, at 8.45pm on Saturday 19th October. Tickets are £9; they are already on sale and can be booked here. Following this, the production will be performed at two venues in the North West: Jackson's Pit in Oldham, Lancashire for a special Bonfire Night performance on 5th November, and The Oakwood in Glossop, Derbyshire on 7th November. Tickets will be soon be available to book via WeGotTickets, and specific links will be posted to this blog as soon as they go on sale.
The production will be a new, streamlined version of the play, helmed by the original team of director Ross Kelly and writer Sean Mason, and with several members of the original Manchester cast returning, including Sinead Parker as Evey and Daniel Thackeray as V (pictured above in Karen Berry's photograph). They will be joined by original cast members Carly Tarett as Dr Surridge, Michael Whittaker as Dominic Stone, Jez Smith as Lewis Prothero and Brian Gorman as Peter Creedy. Brian, also a noted comic artist and writer (of the recent Joy Division graphic novel New Dawn Fades and its smash-hit Fringe adaptation), will be appearing on a panel at the event and signing examples of his work.
Very sadly, Stuart Hudson, Leni Murphy, Paida Noel, Marlon Solomon and Tori Tunnah have been unable to reprise their roles from previous versions of the show. However, we're very pleased to welcome aboard a number of wonderful actors familiar from earlier Scytheplays productions including Liam Grunshaw (Wine of India) as Eric Finch, Morag Peacock (The Ballad of Halo Jones) as Valerie, Phil Dennison (The Year of the Sex Olympics) as Bishop Lilliman, and Daniel Blake from earlier versions of V for Vendetta, now in a new role as The Man. The small but pivotal role of The Girl will be played by an actress new to Scytheplays, Anita Joanne Kerr (The Wrong Side of Town, High School Musical).
For full details of the Lakes International Comic Arts Festival, including information about the competitions and family activities, please go to the main website here, and the beautifully presented programme is here.
