The
current season of Oldham Library’s popular live@thelibrary
strand includes the first-ever performance of this new horror play, which aims to make a new take on the ghost story, taking inspiration from writers like Nigel Kneale, Susan Hill and Stephen Volk as well as the master of the form, MR James.
The Dead, Live concerns a psychic
medium called Lawrence Dodds who knows he is
really a fake, but who discovers that ‘the world of spirit’ has some surprises
in store for him after a someone unexpected attends one of his
live shows.
Oldham-based
writer Daniel Thackeray has previously written Together in Electric Dreams and parts of the recent sketch show Looking at the Lesser Postcodes, both of
which were very popular at the Library, who asked him to write a new play for
them.
Lawrence is played by actor and co-host of The Lee/Cushing Podcast, Howard Whittock, who recently worked with Scytheplays in The Year of the Sex Olympics and MR James' Count Magnus. Carly
Tarett, also from Oldham, plays Rachael, having previously appeared appeared in Scytheplays’ productions V for Vendetta and The Ballad of Halo Jones. She is
also a writer, and her self-written and performed one-woman shows, such as Sinful and Princess Dee, have been met with great acclaim around the world.
After its initial performances in Oldham, Scytheplays Ltd hopes to take The Dead, Live to fringe festivals around Britain during 2017.
