Here's the details:
BLOOD AND STONE: LULLABY FOR A VAMPIRE COUNTESS
A Dramatic Performance by Marty Ross
April 30th. 8pm, Lee Rosy's Tea Shop, 17 Broad Street, Nottingham NG1 3AJ. Tickets £4 / £3 Concession. Reservations: 07989 746641.
Celebrate
Walpurgisnacht with a trip to a Hungarian castle where history's most
infamous real life 'vampire' is imprisoned, all via the basement of
Lee Rosy's Tea Shop!
Halloween?
Oh yeah, we've all heard about that. But what about the other
night of the year when dark forces walk? Any reader of Bram Stoker
will be aware of the Mittel-European tradition of Walpurgisnacht, but
conspicuously the UK fails to celebrate it: well, that's all going to
change this year in Nottingham, as acclaimed storyteller and
playwright Marty Ross returns to Lee Rosy's after his Edgar Allan Poe
show last Halloween: his new show an appropriately Gothic vampire
tale.
The
year is 1610: Hungary’s real life ‘vampire’ countess is
imprisoned in her castle, the most prolific serial killer in history.
But what if a servant were naïve enough to be talked into setting
her free?
It’s
one of history’s great horror stories – the Countess who bathed
in blood to preserve her beauty. It has inspired horror films from
Hammer’s ‘Countess Dracula’ to recent efforts starring Julie
Delpy and Anna Friel. Those accounts have focused upon the Countess’
gory heyday, but the emphasis in Marty Ross’ storytelling show is
on the aftermath… the ageing Countess punished by being locked for
years in a lightless chamber in her castle, her hunger fierce as
ever. Blood And Stone imagines that hunger being turned loose on the
world once again.
Those
who have seen Marty Ross' previous performances at Lee Rosy's, or at
Chilwell Arts Theatre, or No. 28 in Belper... or at the Edinburgh
Fringe (where this show is headed) or the London Horror Festival
(where this show was successfully performed in 2013) will know his
storyteller’s ability to shape-shift through the forms and voices
of a myriad of strange characters, male and female. Well established
as a playwright, particularly with dark drama for BBC radio (Ghost
Zone, Catch My Breath, Darker Side Of The Border), plus Doctor Who &
award-nominated Dark Shadows audio drama– as well as the audio
drama version of Blood And Stone, nominated for a 2012 Rondo Award
(horror fandom’s Oscars) - as a storyteller he is a whole dramatis
personae in
himself, a key figure in the current revival of this oldest – and
yet suddenly most modern - of theatrical forms.
As
Broadway Baby said of his show 21st.
Century Poe, “Ross
is a master craftsman who never turns down the pressure, painting
vile pictures and weaving a grotesque spell over his listeners…
Certain images were so repulsive that people in the front row were
noticeably squirming”.
Using not just powerful words, but mime and gesture indebted to the
likes of German Expressionism, Ross’ storytelling is more Theatre
Of Cruelty than Book At Bedtime, creating vivid on-stage images, even
as he projects more scarifying images still into the audience’s
imaginations… which is where the really scary stuff always
happens….
Reviews
for Ross’ previous shows:
“Insanely
good storytelling… a master craftsman who never turns down the
pressure… violently impressive….” – Broadway Baby *****
“Ross
has a great aptitude for suspense and terror… chilling.” – The
Scotsman
“Visceral.
A compelling narrator and onstage presence. … left you thinking as
well as reeling… theatre that kept you on edge… an immensely
entertaining ride that scared and shocked in equal measure – a fair
ground ghost ride for the 21st Century….” – Fringe Review
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