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Coming soon to a fringe venue near you... but maybe he doesn't want you to tell!
Part of the poster design for The Dead, Live designed by Jake Geen |
Following the abbreviated and experimental, yet still
acclaimed performances of Daniel Thackeray's unusual ghost story play,
The Dead, Live, in Oldham last February, Scytheplays Ltd is thrilled to announce that the show is now embarking on a small tour of several venues during late June and July, when it takes its place as part of the annual
Greater Manchester Fringe.
The production retains two of the original actors from the Oldham Library performances, Howard Whittock and Carly Tarett, joined by Anne Baron. A new director is on board in the form of Alex Shepley, who has created several acclaimed Manchester fringe productions in recent years, including working with writers such as Rob Johnston
(Einstein's Daughter), Kate Mitchell (the musical
300 Days) and Ned Hopkins (
A Lot of It About). The show will involve design work by the brilliant
Hannah Rowe and original music by PH Fry, and with such talents on board, is looking to be spectacular.
Before the full run begins, there will be an opportunity to see the show in a work-in-progress form, for free, as part of the first Levenshulme Art Festival. This performance takes place at 7.30pm on Sunday 25th June at the Klondike Club, Levenshulme, M19 2HQ and free tickets can be booked via Eventbrite.
The official press release is below, followed by booking links for each of the performances.
In development for ten years and initially developed
through the Oldham Coliseum Theatre's New Writing programme, The Dead, Live is a new and unique take
on the theatrical ghost story. Partly inspired by stage predecessors such as
Stephen Mallatratt's The Woman in Black and
by memorably frightening TV events such as The
Stone Tape and Ghostwatch, it
nevertheless charts an intriguing course of its own, inviting the audience to
participate in a live psychic medium show, in which things may not be quite
what they seem.
The Dead, Live is a new departure for a creative team
who have in the past been responsible for more light-hearted fare. Oldham
playwright Daniel Thackeray previously wrote the highly-praised, based-on-truth
1980s-set comedy drama Together in
Electric Dreams, in which Sir Clive Sinclair and the future Lord Sugar
wrestled over sushi for the future of the British electronics industry ("A
lot of laughs and worth a trip down
memory lane" said the Manchester Evening News). Actor
Howard Whittock, who plays Lawrence Dodds, the 'psychic' who knows he is really
a fake, and director Alex Shepley previously worked together on the surreal
comedy sketch show, The Ray Harryhausen
Skeleton Orchestra. And actress Carly Tarett, also from Oldham, is well
known for her comedy one-woman shows, such as Sinful and Princess Dee,
which she has performed locally and internationally to much acclaim.
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Writer Daniel Thackeray and actor Howard Whittock.
Photo by Shay Rowan |
Although it features light-hearted moments, The Dead, Live is something altogether
more chilling. Whittock and Thackeray are both fans of horror, having hosted The Lee/Cushing Podcast on classic
horror films at www.noisybark.com
for the last year, and
their aim here is to bring that feel to the stage. When the play received a partial preview
performance as part of Oldham Library's live@thelibrary
programme in February 2017, North West End's reviewer praised it: "Mixing
pathos with light humour, and tragedy with the spiritual unknown... this story
certainly has, as we say in the profession, legs."
The writer says: "I started writing The Dead, Live in 2006, and then I left
it for a long time... But something about it nagged at me. Apart from the
wonderful The Woman in Black, there
are so few theatrical ghost stories, despite that intimate sense of the
uncanny, that you can only really get in theatre, being so suited to that type
of story. The wonderful sense of being in the same room with something
otherworldly. I wanted to capture that. And of course, that element is also
present, in a different way, in live psychic shows, the kind of thing that
Derek Acorah does. It seemed to me that to write something which combined the
two could be a real winner. Still, it took a long time to get the balance right
but, thanks to a brilliant director and cast, I think we've finally done it.
And audiences are in for something really memorable!"
The Dead, Live, in its final form, is receiving its
premiere performances this July as part of the Greater Manchester Fringe,
playing at several different venues. After this the plan is to take the play on
tour around venues in the North West.
A video interview with writer Daniel Thackeray and actor
Howard Whittock can be seen at:
Performance dates, venues and booking links:
The Kings
Arms: Theatre (PREVIEW)
11 Bloom Street, M3 6AN
Wed 5 Jul 2017 9:00pm £5.00 (£4.00 concs)
The BED Bar @ Tribeca
50 Sackville St, Manchester, M1 3WF
Sunday 9th July 2017, 4pm and 9pm (£8, £7 concs)
Jackson’s Pit
Off Barn St, Oldham, OL1
Tuesday 25th July,
7.30pm (£5/£4 concs)
On the door or discount tickets online via
Eventbrite
The Box @ The
Met Theatre
Market Street, Bury, BL9 0BW
Thu 13 Jul 2017 7:30pm £8.00 (£7.00 concs)
The BED Bar @ Tribeca
50 Sackville St, Manchester, M1 3WF
Tuesday 18th July 2017, 6pm and 9pm (£8, £7
concs)
