Scytheplays Ltd: Arise, The Faces At The Window!

3 Jan 2017

Arise, The Faces At The Window!

Scytheplays Ltd is proud and rather excited to announce its first production of 2017. In a co-production with Lilaloka Productions and Hat Hair Productions, the company is producing the first performances of a brand-new sketch comedy group, The Faces At The Window. The show is called Looking At The Lesser Postcodes and will premiere in Oldham, Lancashire on Wednesday 18th and Thursday 19th January 2017.

The Faces At The Window comprises five writer/performers: Victoria May (The Butterfly Catcher, Under Manc Wood), Richard Barry (well-known in Manchester as a comic and singer-songwriter), Steve Cain (Together in Electric Dreams, The Best), Edward Barry (A Holiday From What?and Scytheplays' Who@50: An Unearthly Child) and Daniel Thackeray (Together in Electric Dreams, The Haunting of Blaine Manor).

Their show, Looking at the Lesser Postcodes, will be the first in a planned series which will reveal the peculiar and comedic characters lurking near some of the UK's most unremarkable postcodes, showcased in sketches and comic songs in the style of a radio comedy show recording. Following its debut in Oldham it is planned to take the show to other parts of Greater Manchester and around the country. Looking at the Lesser Postcodes is directed by Scytheplays regular Ross Kelly (V for Vendetta, Wine of India) and Richard Barry's songs will be accompanied by a full band.

The Faces At The Window (Photo: Shay Rowan)

The performances take place in the Performance Space at Oldham Library as part of Live@thelibrary, a regular and eclectic series of performances at the venue which has found great success since its inception in 2015. As with all Live@thelibrary events, the performances begin at 7pm.

Tickets can be bought on the door or booked via the Library's Eventbrite page (booking in advance is advised). In addition to the £5 full-price tickets given on the poster above, £4 concessionary tickets are also available.

About the company

Scytheplays is a theatre company specialising in (but not limited to) the adaptation of literary science fiction for the stage.

Its first production was Kevin Cuffe's original black comedy play, The Say Can Blues, in July 2011, and it then produced an adaptation of the classic 2000AD comic book written by Alan Moore and drawn by Ian Gibson, The Ballad of Halo Jones. Both shows were staged at the Lass O'Gowrie in Manchester and Scytheplays has an on-going relationship with Lass Productions, going on to co-produce a new piece inspired by the true-life meeting between Sir Clive Sinclair and Alan Sugar, Together in Electric Dreams, an adaptation of Nigel Kneale's classic television play The Year of the Sex Olympics, the Leeds revival of Halo Jones, and the highly-acclaimed V for Vendetta and Wine of India. Scytheplays also collaborated with Lass Productions and Yer Maun Productions to co-found the Greater Manchester Horror Fringe Festival, which will be returning in October 2015.

Scytheplays works with a loose (and ever-expanding) pool of acting and production people, being keen to build on and strengthen the bonds within Manchester's creative community, and also to help new talent to emerge. The company's creative director is Daniel Thackeray and associated directors include Ross Kelly and Fi Hudson.

For more information please contact Daniel via guiltedge@hotmail.com or find us on Twitter (@ScytheplaysLtd). Proposals for new productions are encouraged, but we ask that any writers wishing to submit scripts send an enquiry e-mail in the first instance to ask if we are currently reading script submissions (as our reading team is small). Please be aware that the company aims in the main to produce plays that are either adapted from the science-fiction or fantasy of other media (literature/comics/TV), or original works that are concerned with real science and its history.

Scytheplays Ltd is a limited company, Companies House registration number 09041817.