The Ghost Train is Coming to Town...Follow The Tour

Catch the show in one of these beautiful venues...at least two of them are said to be haunted!  

We've come a long way.  Tonight, on the eve of a fabulous tour that awaits us, I'm reflecting on just how far we have come.  Starting out at the the lovely Hope Mill Theatre three years ago, we've played the magical Kings Arms in Salford with three runs over the years - working so well under that famous dome, we played the London Horror Festival (more on that shortly) and sold the venue out two weeks before we got there.  We've played the wonderfully eccentric Hermon Chapel Arts Centre in Oswestry (a converted chapel that every performer should play in), we've set new audience house records at The Buxton Fringe Festival, and we sold out Bury Met two weeks before we got there for a fabulous Halloween night.  In between the ghost train has visited so many gorgeous and character packed venues from Hebden Bridge Little Theatre to The Civic in Oswaldtwistle.  

The reviews have been wonderful,  the audiences magnificent - some having seen the production as many as five times and bringing new friends each time so that they can watch them gasp at the horrors, twists and turns the plot spins out before them.  I remember the four white witches that came to watch the show at The Carlton in Preston.  How they chatted so enthusiastically to me afterwards, and how impressed they were at the witchcraft sections of the plot that I had written - that really was a great shot in the arm for me ladies, so thank you to The Witches of Preston.  

REVIEWS:  www.talesfromparadiseheights.com/reviews.html

Then there was that London Horror Festival performance.  We were playing The Old Red Lion in Islington, where Oscar Wilde once sat scribbling.  The theatre is on the upstairs floor of the building.  During the production there was an incredible noise coming from upstairs.  The sounds of barrels rolling across the floor, footsteps, the sound of metal being dragged across the floor - all the sounds of a brewery delivering a dray on a wet Saturday afternoon...only...only there hadn't been a delivery.  

I mentioned to Kate - who was running the pub and the festival - that the delivery had been a bit loud, she looked at me quizzically - 'I thought it was your sound effects?'  I shook my head, 'Nope'.  She looked worried. 'Oh God...he's back.'  It turns out the pub has a ghost, and that upstairs is a flat - where the owner was away on holiday, there was no one upstairs, it seems the play may have woken something.  As we were leaving Kate was getting on the phone to her boyfriend, telling him to come down to help her lock up - there was no way she was going to lock up on her own!  Seriously though, what the hell was going on upstairs while we were onstage? 

There are more tales to tell of our travels so far and I'll tell some of them over the next few weeks.  I'll be blogging about each venue and our experiences there.  This tour is so special to us, 13 wonderful houses, all beautiful theatres.  This is all a dream come true for me, it's so lovely to have a show that brings out so many people and so many reactions from those people.  The show is blessed with a magnificent cast (Jo Haydock, Peter Slater, Ed Barry, Andrew Yates, Phil Dennison) and a brilliant crew (Justin Wetherill, Darren McGinn, Dave Heald) and we're quite the family now.   It's all hard work but doesn't feel like it.  Yep, I'm living the dream. 

So we launch the tour tomorrow from The Playhouse, Halifax.  A converted church, this became a 260 seat theatre in 1949.  The theatre is run on the blood, sweat and tears of volunteers and all power to their elbows, if you are in the area you really ought to check out this theatre, it's beautiful.  I don't have a date that this grade II listed building was built, maybe someone out there knows?  Regardless, a gorgeous space.   

Some come join us as we launch the tour tomorrow, bring a friend to hold on to and keep telling yourself;

'It's only a play...it's only a play.'  

Book your tickets at the following link:
www.halifaxplayhouse.org.uk/2019_productions/prod_blaine.html

More on the play here:  
www.talesfromparadiseheights.com/the-haunting-of-blaine-manor.html

More on those venues here:  
www.talesfromparadiseheights.com/blog/the-haunting-of-blaine-manor-tour-2019-the-venues 

So come join us, come see why so many see this as Agatha Christie meets The Haunting, and why we are being called the new The Woman in Black...this is a night and a tale you will never forget.  

Horror is a Place.

Joe x