England, 1953. Renowned American parapsychologist Doctor Roy Earle, famous for discrediting hauntings and exposing fake mediums, is invited to to attend a seance in what is said to be the most haunted building in England, a building with a horrific history, Blaine Manor. Even the locals won’t set foot there, as all who walk within those grounds will be cursed.
But his arrival at the manor has awoken something, something horrific within the walls. As a raging storm closes off Blaine Manor from the outside world, Earle and the others find that what is waiting there is not nearly as horrific as what has entered with him…
But his arrival at the manor has awoken something, something horrific within the walls. As a raging storm closes off Blaine Manor from the outside world, Earle and the others find that what is waiting there is not nearly as horrific as what has entered with him…
To define exactly what is so creepy and terrifying about those Ghost Stories for Christmas that the BBC used to do so well back in the early 1970s is like trying to see a ghost, almost impossible...you just know it's there. I remember them so well, and so many of them had one thing that conveyed the terror so well...they were written by M R James. Montague Rhodes James is acknowledged as the greatest ever English ghost story author. Oh, Whistle and I'll Come To You My Lad, The Ash Tree, Casting The Runes, A Thin Ghost, A Warning To The Curious - just a few of his chillers. Many of them have been adapted to screen with mixed results.
In addition to M R James I found Edgar Allan Poe equally terrifying. I remembered as a kid seeing an animated version of The Tell Tale Heart, narrated by James Mason, that scared the hell out of me. I loved the deliciously dark poem, The Raven and of course the films The Fall of the House of Usher, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Masque of the Red Death introduced me to the great Vincent Price.
In addition to M R James I found Edgar Allan Poe equally terrifying. I remembered as a kid seeing an animated version of The Tell Tale Heart, narrated by James Mason, that scared the hell out of me. I loved the deliciously dark poem, The Raven and of course the films The Fall of the House of Usher, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Masque of the Red Death introduced me to the great Vincent Price.
In tandem with my love of ghosts and the supernatural, I also have a passion for those black and white Hollywood classics produced by the like of Universal Pictures, MGM, Columbia Pictures, 20th Century Fox and RKO Pictures. Films filled with cads, bounders, scoundrels, starlets, villains, femme fatales. An eclectic stable of characters played by the likes of Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Bette Davis, Robert Mitchum, Ida Lupino, Joan Crawford, Claude Rains, Carol Lombard, James Mason, Vincent Price, Peter Lorre, George Saunders, Sydney Greenstreet. Films filled with crisp, punchy dialogue, devious characters with cunning plans; and of course let's not forget our own Hammer Horror classics that produced a very British version of the supernatural with the likes of Peter Cushing, Susan Denberg, Christopher Lee, Fanella Fielding, Barbara Steele, Michael Gough, Susan Strasberg, Patrick Troughton, Ingrid Pitt, Madeline Smith, Patrick Magee, and Herbert Lom.
This play is quite a departure from anything I have written before, my first period piece, the world of 1953 being of course very different from the world of today. Queen Elizabeth II was crowned this year, Aldous Huxley tried the psychedelic hallucinogen, mescaline, inspiring his book The Doors of Perception, Tony Bennet released his single Stranger in Paradise. The United States conducted the Harry nuclear test. It was part of a series of 11 nuclear weapon tests dubbed the Operation Upshot-Knothole at the Nevada Test Site. Derek Bentley is executed at Wandsworth Prison in London for his part in the murder of PC Sidney Miles. John Christie, a 54-year-old London man, is sentenced to death for the murder of his wife Ethel Christie. A total of eight bodies were found at Christie's home, 10 Rillington Place in Notting Hill, including those of the wife and daughter of Timothy Evans who was hanged in 1950 for his daughter's murder. The rationing of sweets, introduced during the second world war, ended and Bill Haley and the Comets released Rock Around The Clock.
So, yes, those are my influences, my starting points. But it's not much fun if you don't do something new with all that is it?
This, coupled with the absolutely amazing performance space that is HOPE MILL THEATRE promises to be an unforgettable evening of theatre. Try not to come alone, have someone to hold on to. Keep telling yourself...it's only a play...it's only a play.
Featuring a firecracker cast of Peter Slater, Jo Haydock, Ian Curley, Andrew Yates, and Daniel Thackeray and my bad self. The play features an original sound design by the quite brilliant Justin Wetherill.
Tickets are now selling quite well so get yours booked as soon as you can, you can book at the link below. Say you were there at the play's inaugural run...to quote one of the characters 'It's going to be quite a night...'
http://hopemilltheatre.co.uk/events/haunting-blaine-manor/
So, yes, those are my influences, my starting points. But it's not much fun if you don't do something new with all that is it?
This, coupled with the absolutely amazing performance space that is HOPE MILL THEATRE promises to be an unforgettable evening of theatre. Try not to come alone, have someone to hold on to. Keep telling yourself...it's only a play...it's only a play.
Featuring a firecracker cast of Peter Slater, Jo Haydock, Ian Curley, Andrew Yates, and Daniel Thackeray and my bad self. The play features an original sound design by the quite brilliant Justin Wetherill.
Tickets are now selling quite well so get yours booked as soon as you can, you can book at the link below. Say you were there at the play's inaugural run...to quote one of the characters 'It's going to be quite a night...'
http://hopemilltheatre.co.uk/events/haunting-blaine-manor/
RSS Feed
