Theatre News

The Day of the Triffids stage show announced

Platform 4 confirms a UK tour based on John Wyndham’s post-apocalyptic novel

The Day of the Triffids
The Day of the Triffids

The Day of the Triffids is making its way to a stage near you.

Platform 4's Tiffids! promises "a gig theatre adventure", fusing music, text and visual imagery, based on John Wyndham's seminal Cold War novel.

Creator Catherine Church has gender-swapped the main protagonist from Bill to Jill for this adaptation and, according to the press release, has "cut out many of the outdated
comments the book indulged in", updating the source material for the 21st century.

Church commented: "None of us knew how weirdly prescient this piece would be – the
novel essentially asks the question – what would you do if a deadly germ invaded the world? Would you stay in your immediate community? How would it make you feel about the many things we take for granted? How would it change your priorities in life etc etc? All of these questions are covered in the novel – finally, finally we get to perform this live….quite a challenge with the amount of sci fi instruments on stage – from a Moog to a Theramin to a Harmonium to a Dulcimer and loads and loads of wacky samples and 1950s B Movie inspired sounds!"

In preparation for the production, Platform 4 interviewed members of the community at Highcliffe allotments about their own memories of Wyndham's book as well as their opinions on climate change and weeds. Their answers have helped to shape Church's adaptation.

The tour launches at Warwick Arts Centre in Coventry on 26 February, before heading to Norwich, Oxford, Poole, Exeter, Winchester, Chichester, Salisbury, Cambridge, Birmingham, Hampshire, New Milton, London and Colchester.

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