Centurion in the Manchester Horror Fringe

Scytheplays' second announced contribution to the Manchester Horror Fringe will be Baz Greenland's science-fiction chiller Centurion, performing at FAB Cafe, Portland Street on the 22nd, 26th, 27th and 28th of October.

It tells the story of the three-person crew of the spaceship Venture, who think they are alone on the remote planet to which they have been dispatched to conduct environmental tests ahead of a possible colonisation. But one of them sees a human-like figure stalking the landscape outside the ship.  They soon discover clues that suggest the planet has been visited before - possibly by the legendary lost spaceship, Centurion...

The first original (as opposed to adapted) piece of drama produced by Scytheplays since its first production, Kevin Cuffe's The Say Can Blues in July 2011, Centurion came about when writer Baz Greenland approached Scytheplays about writing one of the horror fringe's literary adaptations (and indeed he has written one of the story adaptations in Hotel Midnight).  Creative director Daniel Thackeray takes up the story: "In the early discussions Baz pitched a horror story set in deep space which was interesting, but which didn't quite suit the gothic horror style I was after at the time.  However, when it became clear that Manchester's FAB Cafe were keen to host a show in the horror fringe, Baz's idea seemed like the ideal fit. The bespoke sci-fi environment of FAB offers unique possibilities and Baz jumped at the chance to tailor his script specifically for the venue."

Directed by Paul Anderton, who recently helmed Organised Chaos Productions' Broken for its critically acclaimed North West tour this year, Centurion promises an intimate and intense site-specific experience which is pure theatre, but that tips its hat to movies such as Alien and Event Horizon.  Tickets will be £7 on the door or £5 concessions (with a half-price preview on the 22nd), or you can book via WeGotTickets at the links below.

Half-price preview - Tuesday October 22nd, 7.30pm
Half-price preview - Tuesday October 22nd, 7.30pm (concessions)
Saturday October 26th, 1pm

Saturday October 26th, 1pm (concessions)

Sunday October 27th, 3.30pm

Sunday October 27th, 3.30pm (concessions)

Sunday October 27th, 7pm

Sunday October 27th, 7pm (concessions)

Monday October 28th, 7.30pm

Monday October 28th, 7.30pm (concessions)

Simon Clark heads up the first Manchester Horror Fringe!

The ten days leading up to Halloween 2013 see a number of events forming Manchester's first-ever Horror Fringe Theatre Festival.  Scytheplays, with Lass Productions and Yer Maun Productions, have played a large part in initiating the festival, which we are very excited to announce will launch with the Lass/Scytheplays production of Simon Clark's Hotel Midnight.

Simon Clark is one of Britain's most popular and acclaimed authors of horror fiction, with such titles as the apocalyptic Blood Crazy, the Vampyrrhic series, and the John Wyndham sequel Night of the Triffids among many others.  Hotel Midnight will feature adaptations of three of his most imaginative and haunting stories written by some of the Manchester fringe scene's best adapters.  In Swallowing a Dirty Seed, adapted by Baz Greenland, a reclusive writer allows two lost students to stay overnight at his remote Welsh cottage - but he does not realise just how lost they are.  In They Will Not Rest, adapted by Ross Kelly (Wine of India), the end of the world has come and for most of the world's population, to sleep means death - but three people have found a way to stay awake, if they can only trust each other.  And in Humpty's Bones, adapted by Sean Mason (V for Vendetta), when Eden Page goes to stay with her eccentric archeologist aunt in a remote part of Yorkshire, a local dig throws up something very unusual; something ancient but that, somehow, Eden knows - and it knows her...

Simon Clark

Simon himself says, "There is a grand tradition of dramatizing ghost stories for the theatre. The Horror Fringe in Manchester continues this proud tradition. I'm delighted that some of my eeriest stories will become part of this ambitious event," and adds, "I've been fortunate enough to read the adaptations of my stories by three extremely talented writers and can say to anyone who enjoys uncanny and thought-provoking drama in the vein of Quatermass, Lawrence Gordon Clark's TV ghost stories and The Twilight Zone then they are in for a very special treat."

The Horror Fringe will also take in other Manchester venues, including Fab Cafe and the Town Hall Tavern, for a number of accompanying events between 21st and 31st October.  Details of the other events - including some exciting and specially-crafted plays derived from both new writing and classic texts - will be announced on this blog in the next few days.  Scytheplays Creative Director Daniel Thackeray says, "It was felt by a few of us on the fringe scene that there wasn't enough horror theatre around - especially around the time of Halloween.  It's exciting to be able to redress that somewhat.  And as someone who remembers being vividly terrified reading Blood Crazy a few years ago, I'm so pleased to have Simon on board and think we'll be kicking off the festival in fine style!"

Hotel Midnight will open at Studio One, the new space at Salford's King's Arms Theatre, before moving on to the Lass O'Gowrie.  Tickets on the door will cost £8 (or £7 concessions) except for half-price preview performance, or you can book in advance via WeGotTickets.com at the following links:

Preview performance - Monday 21st October, 6pm - Studio One

Preview performance - Monday 21st October, 6pm - Studio One (concessions)

Thursday 24th October, 7.30pm - Studio One

Thursday 24th October, 7.30pm - Studio One (concessions)

Friday 25th October, 9pm - Studio One

Friday 25th October, 9pm - Studio One (concessions)

On the Friday at the King's Arms there will also be an opportunity to attend the Blooming Hell Ghost Tour at 8pm, for those who fancy a spooky double-bill!

The performances of Hotel Midnight at the Lass O'Gowrie can be booked using the following links:

Tuesday October 29th, 7.30pm - the Lass O'Gowrie

Tuesday October 29th, 7.30pm - the Lass O'Gowrie (concessions)

Thursday October 31st, 7.30pm - the Lass O'Gowrie

Thursday October 31st, the Lass O'Gowrie (concessions)

V for Vendetta comes to Kendal!

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.

The acclaimed Wine of India available to view online!

Sam (Will Hutchby) embraced by Will (Taran Knight) in Nigel Kneale's Wine of India
Photo: Shay Rowan

2013's Greater Manchester Fringe was another hugely successful festival for the city with many shows such as Hand Over Fist and New Dawn Fades proving huge hits with both critics and audiences - not bad at all given that this year's Fringe faced competition from both the packed Manchester International Festival and the hottest summer weather for some years.  Although it reached slightly smaller audiences than some shows in the festival, Scytheplays and Lass Productions' Wine of India proved to be one of the most palpable critical hits with an array of four- and five-star reviews.

Julie (Morag Peacock) troubled, with Nita (Gemma Ryan) and Jonna (Una Love) in the background.
Photo: Shay Rowan

"Cerebral, dark and funny" (the Fiction Stroker); "the actors make the entire concept believable" (What's On Stage); "clever staging and direction" (The Skinny); "a bold and intelligent piece of theatre" (Viva Lifestyle Magazine); "it is the little touches that make all Scytheplays productions so special" (The Good Review)... To read the full reviews just click on the links.

Jonna with Mac (Liam Grunshaw)
Photo: Shay Rowan

Co-director Daniel Thackeray says, "It's thrilling to think that the show has been so well-reviewed.  The credit belongs to the late, great Nigel Kneale, of course, on whose coat-tails we all swing - but also to Ross Kelly for writing such a clever adaptation and to the cast who gave such flawless performances in very limiting circumstances.  I am so pleased we were able to get the production on camera, so that those performances have been preserved to some extent - although of course a video can never fully replicate the experience of actually seeing a play first-hand - and that we can share the production on YouTube so that fans of Nigel Kneale everywhere can now see Wine of India, instead of just reading and dreaming about it."

Dod (Tom Reed-Goodehall) and Sam (Will Hutchby)

Accordingly the full performance video is available to view on YouTube here.  Daniel continues: "The recording is a combination of three different performances taken from three different angles, cut together.  I have to say that filming the show was something of an afterthought and the hand-held footage was not always ideal.  There are definitely some clunky moments.  However, I tried to cut it in a way that reflects the way it might well have been shot in a multi-camera studio in 1970, and I'm quite pleased with the end result.  I hope it stands as enjoyable viewing even if you didn't see one of the performances live."

Russ (Luke Helly), Jonna and Bee (Carole Bardsley)
Photo: Shay Rowan

The video will remain available to view via Daniel's YouTube channel, which has just been updated with several other videos pertaining Scytheplays productions.  As well as the original trailers for Wine of India and Together in Electric Dreams, there are performance clips from the latter play and from the original and revival versions of The Ballad of Halo Jones, Together in Electric Dreams and our first Nigel Kneale adaptation, The Year of the Sex Olympics.

Adam (Quentin Knight)
Photo: Shay Rowan

Meanwhile, the cast of Wine of India have been busy on stages elsewhere.  Almost simultaneously with playing Will, Taran Knight has won plaudits for his portrayal of Mic in Richard O'Neill's new play Temper, premiered as part of the 24:7 Festival, while Morag Peacock and Luke Helly were acting in Lass Productions' Rotten Apples (directed by The Ballad of Halo Jones and V for Vendetta's Sean Mason in between starring in Suspended in Space directed by fellow Halo actor Phil Dennison) within three hours of saying their last lines as Julie and Russ!  Will Hutchby appeared in the closing play of the GM Fringe, Jack Rosenthal's Big Sid, while his fellow Toby, Benjamin Patterson, starred in Colin Connor's Meanwhile, which has just transferred from the Lass O'Gowrie to the Bolton Octagon.  Sex Olympics' Coordinator Priest, Howard Whittock, starred with Together in Electric Dreams' latest Akiko, Jess Lee, in The Ray Harryhausen Skeleton Orchestra.  V for Vendetta's Michael Whittaker won acclaim (and sell-out audiences) for his performance as Joy Division's Ian Curtis in New Dawn Fades (written by Peter Creedy himself, Brian Gorman and also featuring the ubiquitous Sean Mason) and his co-star as Evey (and sometime Rodice Olsun) Sinead Parker has just taken her comedy show Norris and Parker: All Our Friends Are Dead to Edinburgh where she and comedy partner Katie Norris played to full houses and massive acclaim. Finally, Una Love has been cast in upcoming Manchester comedy-drama play Women's Voices - tickets are available to book at the link!

Wine of India in the Greater Manchester Fringe Festival

Julie and Will Packer know what awaits them...
Morag Peacock and Taran Knight in Wine of India
Photo: Ben Dobbs

The second annual Greater Manchester Fringe Festival opened today.  Bigger and better than last year - as it needs to be, this year facing heavy-duty competition from the biannual Manchester International Festival - this Fringe takes in 14 different venues across Manchester and Salford.  But as with the 2012 fringe, the Lass O'Gowrie is at the heart of the action with several in-house productions, including the now-traditional collaboration with Scytheplays.  And as with last year, the production in question is inspired by the writing of Nigel Kneale - in the case a new stage adaptation of the BBC TV Wednesday play, Wine of India.

Poster artwork by Jake Geen

Originally broadcast in 1970 and starring Brian Blessed, Wine of India was a one-off science-fiction piece exploring a future in which medical science has abolished ageing, but with a price.  Once a person reaches the end of their contract with the state to provide them with rejuvenating drugs, they must die.  And when Will Packer reaches his contract day, he finds he must attend his own funeral. At this bittersweet and brief reunion with his family and friends, he will finally be able to taste the wine of India...

Broadcast once and then wiped in the BBC's 1970s videotape purge, no visual material is known to survive of the original TV production of Wine of India and the script was never published.  The new stage version is therefore an incredibly rare chance to experience this classic play, which is filled with the black humour, searing intelligence and bleak worldview for which its author is renowned.  And the writing/producing/directing team behind the highly-acclaimed Year of the Sex Olympics stage production has once again assembled a superb cast including that production's Kin Hodder, Will Hutchby, as Mike and Sam; Scytheplays' second Halo Jones, Morag Peacock, as Julie; and several newcomers to Scytheplays including Taran Knight (soon to be seen in both the 24:7 Theatre Festival's Temper and Receptive Theatre Company's The Ray Harryhausen Skeleton Orchestra) as Will, Una Love (currently appearing in Organised Chaos Productions' Broken at the Buxton Fringe Festival) as Jonna, with Quentin Knight as Adam, Gemma Ryan (Mind the Gap Theatre's Stig of the Dump) as Nita, Luke Helly (Lass O'Gowrie's Rotten Apples) as Russ, Tom Reed-Goodehall as Dod, Carole Bardsley as Bee, The Hooligan Factory's Liam Grunshaw as Mac and Menyee Lai  as Pat.

Family photos are always embarrassing:
Julie (Morag Peacock), Jonna (Una Love), Will (Taran Knight), Russ (Luke Helly) and Dod (Tom Reed-Goodehall)
Photo: Ben Dobbs

Wine of India performs at the Lass O'Gowrie on Thursday 11th July (7.30pm), Friday 12th July (7.30pm), Saturday 13th July (3pm and 7.30pm) and Sunday 14th July (3pm).  Tickets are £8 and can be bought on the door or pre-booked online here.

V rocks the Sci-Fi Weekender... and souvenirs are available!

Evey and V in the Main Void.  Photo: Karen Berry Photography

The Sci-Fi Weekender - Britain's annual Mecca for cult entertainment across all media - hit the Hafan y Mor Holiday Park, Pwllheli, Wales last week, and Scytheplays and Lass O'Gowrie Productions were there with V for Vendetta.  Here are some photos from the ten-minute preview scene, performed in the Main Void - the event's central performance space - during the convention's opening cabaret on Friday night, March 1st.  The preview featured Sinead Parker as Evey and Creedy actor Brian Gorman filling in for the temporarily indisposed Stuart Hudson as 'the Man', who threatens Evey before V (Daniel Thackeray) appears to save the day.

Evey entrapped, as V looks on.  Photo: the Fiction Stroker

Thanks to the technical support of the Weekender's entertainment providers, Area 51, and the lighting of Peter M George, V has never looked more spectacular, and an audience of several hundred greeted the preview scene with rapturous applause.  It's fair to say that the following night's performance of the full play in the jam-packed Spaceport venue - with Stuart Hudson back in place - was not without sound problems, but nevertheless the enthusiasm of the audience remained high with applause following almost every scene, and feedback was extremely positive.  It was a great adventure for the V for Vendetta team, who were able to return to the Main Void afterwards to dance the night away to Craig Charles' funk and soul!

It's to be hoped that Lass O'Gowrie Productions and Scytheplays will be able to mount further performances at similar events in future.  In the meantime a limited number of programmes and posters from the Weekender event - signed by cast members and featuring unique artwork - are available at £2 for posters and £1 for programmes.  Please e-mail guiltedge@hotmail.com for details.

Evey and V survey 'the opening night'.  Photo: Lee Howard/CelebExposed

For more from the photographers go to the Karen Berry Photography, Fiction Stroker and CelebExposed websites.

V for Vendetta comes to the Sci-Fi Weekender!

The poster art for V at the Sci-Fi Weekender, created by Jake Geen

After large audiences and great reviews for V for Vendetta's run at the Lass O'Gowrie in January (not to mention a sell-out audience for the final double-bill of V with The Ballad of Halo Jones), the show is making a swift comeback - but with a difference.  The new performance will be staged at the Sci-Fi Weekender in Wales on March 2nd.

One of the country's biggest science fiction conventions, the Weekender (formerly known as the SFX Weekender) is has now been running annually for four years.  Organisers Area 51, on seeing V in Manchester, invited Lass O'Gowrie Productions and Scytheplays to bring the show to their event.  However, this version of V for Vendetta will be substantially retooled to fit the needs of the hugely popular Weekender - which has a packed schedule already brimful of exciting entertainment and guests from the world of science fiction and fantasy, including actors Craig Charles (who will be bringing his famed DJ set), Peter Davison (Doctor Who), Brian Blessed (Wizards Versus Aliens) and Chase Masterson (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine), and authors like Simon Clark (Blood Crazy) and Ben Aaronovitch (Moon Over Soho), among dozens of others.

Writer Sean Mason and director Ross Kelly have worked hard to create a new, streamlined adaptation of the graphic novel.  A number of Alan Moore's original characters and subplots have had to be excised to achieve a shorter running time, and this, plus scheduling conflicts, mean that, very sadly, original cast members Michael Whittaker, Tori Tunnah and Paida Noel are unable to appear in the new version.  However, the brilliant duo of Leni Murphy and Daniel Blake - who memorably played the Almonds in the Manchester production - have stepped in to play Valerie and Dominic Stone.  Returning from the Manchester production will be Sinead Parker as Evey Hammond, Daniel Thackeray as V, Marlon Solomon as Eric Finch, Carly Tarett as Delia Surridge, Jez Smith as Lewis Prothero and Stuart Hudson as Bishop Lilliman.  Musician Nathexious is creating new musical themes for the Weekender production.

Lass O'Gowrie Productions' Gareth Kavanagh said, "I've long thought that theatre deserves a place at the table at the great conventions so it's an honour to be bringing V to the Sci-Fi Weekender.  And with original V editor and old pal Dez Skinn in the audience...  No pressure!"