The idea for the show came early this year while we were working on our last show, ‘Murder At Cadberry Manor’. When I was in university, we did a one-act festival, which was basically 8 short plays in one night, and I was interested in doing something similar again at 4AM! Our project director, Phil Halfpenny, who directed our last show and our next two, thought the concept would work in a horror setting. He had long had the idea to work with short horror plays, and thus the seeds were planted! Our goal, in a nutshell, was simple: to scare the hell out of an audience!

We then began planning how we wanted the show to go, its structure, layout, which plays, how many plays, etc. Phil and I talk all the time, and I really mean all the time. We are constantly messaging each other with ideas, and we would routinely be sending each other ideas for which shows we could use. We also brought on board Luke Bennet, who was one of the stand-out performers in our last show. We saw early on he had a brilliantly creative mind but also great intuition for things, and we felt he would be an asset to us!

Luke was ready to embrace the challenge as well, and we soon decided that we would have 6 plays, with 3 in each half. Myself, Phil, and Luke would direct 2 each as well, and because we are all mad and like a challenge, we all decided to write one each as well! And so our line-up was born, with the 6 plays forming the first-ever Book of Horror showcase as follows:

1) The Signal-Man by Charles Dickens (adapted & directed by Phil Halfpenny)

2) The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe (Adapted for stage & directed by Luke Bennet)

3) The Attic by Robert Scott (Adapted and directed by Sab Muthusamy)

4) Decay (written & directed by Phil Halfpenny)

5) How To Process Your Imminent Death (written & directed by Luke Bennet)

6) Kali's Gold (Written & Directed by Sab Muthusamy)

We felt a nice blend of adapted classics combined with 3 original pieces would give the evening a nice mix for audiences to enjoy. The Signal-Man and The Raven are classics everyone knows and loves. ‘How To Process Your Imminent Death’ brings a healthy dose of dark comedy into proceedings. ‘Decay’ tells a dark story with an important message, and ‘Kali’s Gold’ is a diverse tale exploring important themes and promises to be quite the spectacle. All in all, we believe the show has something for everyone, not just horror fans.

Normally in showcase nights with short plays, you get different casts/directors for each play. We thought it would be interesting to have the same clutch of actors appear in each play. This is, after all, the Book of Horror, so we want it to feel as if each story is a chapter in the book, and these group of people step into the characters of each story. We held auditions on 6th August, we had so many applications and held a group workshop. It was amazing to see what different things people brought. We gave everyone different challenges and eventually managed to settle on a group of people we wanted. It wasn’t easy because, as we all know with the audition process, it does involve saying no to people, which is one of the worst things you can do.

From our batch, we managed to cast characters for each play. The same group appearing across multiple shows—it’s certainly a challenge, but one everyone has embraced and relished. With not much time to put things together, everyone has worked extra hard to bring visions to the stage, and at 4 AM, we encourage actors to be part of the creative process. We give them the freedom to express themselves, suggest, and try things. We find the process so much more rewarding come the end. At the point of writing, we are a little under a month until opening night, which is slightly terrifying, but it will be worth it. We’ve been so impressed by ticket sales—they’ve been selling rapidly each week, which is a testament to our work promoting but also how popular the genre is, and doing something different really helps.

I cannot reveal much more about the show, but trust that there are frights and delights awaiting everyone, and this will be remembered for a long time. My only question is… are you brave enough to come and watch?

"The Book of Horror - Volume I: Haunting on Hope Street" is being performed at Hope Street Theatre from the 19th to the 21st of October.

Written by, Sab

Edited by, Christopher Woodward