Theatre News

Terror Season Returns for Halloween at Southwark

15 September 2010

Following the success of last year’s Terror 2009 Season, experimental company The Sticking Place will return to Southwark Playhouse with their annual offering of classic, cult and contemporary horror theatre, just in time for Halloween.

This year the season, titled Death and Resurrection plays on the fact that the railway tunnel the Playhouse now call home was reportedly a Second World War morgue.

The season will premiere three short pieces by playwrights Mark Ravenhill, Neil LaBute and April De Angelis as well as a revival of Reanimator by William Ewart, adapted from the short stories of HP Lovecraft.

Country, written by April De Angelis and directed by Hannah Eidinow tells the story of two old friends, haunted by the memory of one of their dead husbands. De Angelis is currently under commission at the Royal Court, the National Theatre and Paines Plough Theatre Company. Eidinow directed Anthony Neilson‘s Twisted, a radio play about a prison doctor offering a killer instant release if he kills her own husband’s lover, as part of the Terror 2009 season.

Actor and playwright Mark Ravenhill makes return to the season with his new piece The Exclusion Zone which he also directs. Ravenhill’s 2009 Terror piece, The Experiment later transferred to the Soho Theatre and Latitude Festival. His recent writing-directing projects include Over There at the Royal Court.

Following Neil LaBute’s Some White Chick which was presented as part of last year’s season, LaBute returns to the Terror Season with The Unimaginable, “a stark and disturbing exploration of the psyche of a killer”. A Tony nominated writer and director, LaBute’s Fat Pig was seen at the West End’s Comedy Theatre in 2008. The Unimaginable will be directed by Jason Lawson whose recent credits include Charlie & Henry and Danny’s Wake, both at the New End Theatre.

The season is completed by a revival of Reanimator by William Ewart, adapted from a short story from “the godfather of modern horror” HP Lovecraft. The piece is directed by Adam Meggido, artistic director of The Sticking Place and curator of the Terror Season since its creation in 2004.

Previous Terror Seasons have included Hamburg by Darren Ormandy, Ripper by Mark Ravenhill, The Disappearance adapted from the MR James short story by Daragh Carville and Normal by Anthony Neilson.

Terror 2010: Death and Resurrection will run from 14 to 31 October 2010 (previews from 12 October) with a special season finale on Halloween night. The season is presented at Southwark Playhouse by The Sticking Place and James Seabright Productions.