Winter is drawing closer, you tighten your coat around your shivering body. It isn’t far to get back home. A thick mist covers the street and there’s a cold bite in the air. Through the fog you see two red lights approaching, a car you think. Then, before you can close your eyes, you see him. Your fate is sealed.
This is the first public sharing of a new work in development from Nottingham’s most wayward and compelling theatrical partnership: an old tale with new beginnings that raises the hair, tingles the spine and tickles the ribs. As a native of East Anglia, Olwen grew up on a healthy diet of weird folklore, and no tale is weirder than that of Black Shuck: the true account of an actual hellhound from actual hell that’s affected the identity of her rural community for hundreds of years. In Shuck, LaPelle’s Factory turn on a sixpence, from cheeky to chilling, with the agility of this demonic dog. They grapple with folkloric demons as they ask why grisly tales get passed down through generations and how they retain their mysterious power to bring us together. Black Shuck, the devil’s dog, will torment your dreams and haunt your waking hours. Ollie doesn’t believe. But will you?