21st. CENTURY POE comes home... to Glasgow's Southside Fringe!

AT LAST! After all this time performing my storytelling shows everywhere from the Edinburgh Fringe to the London Horror Festival, I'm finally getting to take a couple of my 21st. Century Poe shows to my own neighbourhood, the centre of my spiritual universe, namely Glasgow's south side. I'll paste in below the details:

21st. CENTURY POE

9^th May: FALLING FOR THE USHERS 10^th. May: HEART SHAPED HOLE

Southside Fringe 2015. The Bungo, Nithsdale Road, Glasgow.

8pm 9 & 10^th. May Tickets £7 / £6

Tickets for FALLING FOR THE USHERS: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/1391795

Tickets for HEART SHAPED HOLE:

http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/1391806

Marty Ross (BBC Radio horror; Doctor Who audio) drags Edgar Allan kicking & screaming into the modern world in a horror double bill of storytelling performances!

"True! - nervous - very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad?"

In virtually all the greatest chillers of Edgar Allan Poe, the same note is struck straightaway: an isolated, tormented narrator wants – needs! – to tell us of the strange and terrible experiences he has undergone. They are ideally suited, therefore, to contemporary theatre’s great comeback kid, the most ancient and suddenly most modern form of narrative theatre: live storytelling.

As a theatrical storyteller with a flair for the Gothic and macabre - as reflected in his parallel career as playwright for the likes of BBC radio’s “Marvellously chilling” (Guardian) Darker Side Of The Border, Ghost Zone & Catch My Breath, as well as Moyamensing, his 2014 Halloween show for Radio Scotland, plus Doctor Who and award-nominated Dark Shadows audio drama - Marty Ross has seized upon the dramatic potential of Poe’s tales. But as a storytelling ‘modernist’ keen to shift this resurgent form away from once-upon-a-time-in-a-land-far-away ‘folkiness’, he has no intention of presenting Poe’s stories as period pieces: rather he has radically updated them to our era, both in plot & language – while shifting the setting to his native Glasgow: and now after having performed them to sell-out houses and five star reviews everywhere from the Edinburgh Fringe to the London Horror Festival, he brings his distinctly Glaswegian horror aesthetic home to Glasgow's south side for this year's Southside Fringe.

In line with this distinctive approach, FALLING FOR THE USHERS (Saturday 9^th May) shifts Poe’s incestuous siblings from their misty Gothic manor to the world of Damien Hirst / Chapman Bros.– type contemporary art. But when an old friend from Glasgow School of Art shows up, the scene is set for a denoument as dark and tragic as that of the original story. On Sunday 10^th. May, HEART SHAPED HOLE sets Poe’s Tell Tale Heart beating against a background of Glasgow tower block drug dealing, as young junkie on the make Stanley tries to murder his way to power, but can't escape that strange pounding in his head.... Perverse passions, substance abuse, macabre humour, murderous violence… shift Poe from his olde worlde settings to our times and one is close to the world of David Lynch, William Burroughs, even Irvine Welsh.

Ross' performances are far removed from the comfy-chair raconteur-ing of too many people’s clichés of live storytelling. Ross’s performance style is in-your-face, expressionist, intensely physical… more Theatre of Cruelty than Jackanory. Those who have managed to overlook live storytelling till now have been ‘astonished’ at the theatrical intensity of his performances, as attested by the reviews below:

On FALLING FOR THE USHERS:

“Ross has a great aptitude for suspense and terror, and he hurls himself into his tale with energy and passion, in words which ring with the native Glasgow rhythm... an accomplished piece of work which builds towards a chilling conclusion.” – The Scotsman - review by Claire Smith

“…poetically re-worked ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’ manages, in its modernisation, to preserve and revere the original, even intensifying its impact. Marty Ross delivers a bewitchingly good story that leaves a haunting reminder long after the lights have gone down.” – 3 weeks: Review By Katharine Wootton

On HEART SHAPED HOLE:

“An insanely good piece of storytelling... Ross is a master craftsman who never turns down the pressure, painting vile pictures and weaving a grotesque spell. The tone is foul and relentless - Trainspotting meets Gothic horror…. Ross’ violently impressive performance make this a heart-pounding triumph which demands appreciation.” – Broadway Baby: Review by Gwen Sims-Williams

“This was visceral. Marty Ross is a compelling narrator and onstage presence. … left you thinking as well as reeling… This was theatre that kept you on edge and occasionally threatened to send you off it. As a raconteur it is the utter conviction with which Ross performs that… draws you into his world. An immensely entertaining ride that scared and shocked in equal measure – a fair ground ghost ride for the 21st Century…” – .Fringe Review: Reviewed by Donald C Stewart

BLOOD AND STONE: Lullaby For A Vampire Countess - My Walpurgisnacht show at Lee Rosy's Tea Shop

Here's the press release for my next storytelling show, which is at Lee Rosy's Tea Shop in Nottingham on April 30th: WALPURGISNACHT!

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 21^st. 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 

FALLING FOR THE USHERS returns to No. 28, Belper

Big thing this week is the return to Number Twenty Eight Belper of 21st. CENTURY POE: FALLING FOR THE USHERS this coming Saturday, February 28th. I'll paste in the details below...

21^st. CENTURY POE: FALLING FOR THE USHERS

No. 28 Belper, Market Square, Belper. Saturday 28^th. February 2015. 7.30 pm.

Tickets £7 / £5 concession.

Scottish storyteller & playwright Marty Ross (BBC Radio horror; Doctor Who audio) drags The Fall Of The House Of Usher kicking & screaming into the modern world, in a show already a hit at the Edinburgh Fringe & London Horror Festivals!

Edgar Allan Poe's The Fall Of The House Of Usher is long-established as a classic horror tale, but Marty Ross is a ‘modernist’ on the live storytelling scene, keen to rescue this resurgent form from backward looking quaintness. Thus, in his version, Falling For The Ushers, haunted twins Roderick and Madeline Usher have left behind the misty Gothic manor of the original story to become superstars of Glasgow's contemporary art world, thanks to their macabre conceptual installations in the manner of Damien Hirst and the Chapman Bros. But when Madeline’s old art school admirer Ed shows up, their tragic downfall is as inescapable as ever. And Marty Ross's unique performing style, combining evocative language with expressionistic mime and gesture, makes full-blown theatre out of the story as he embodies a whole cast list of larger than life characters.

FALLING FOR THE USHERS has already been a hit at the Edinburgh Fringe and London Horror Festivals, as testified by the reviews it received:

“Insanely good storytelling… a master craftsman who never turns down the pressure… Ross’ violently impressive performance make this a heart-pounding triumph… Trainspotting meets gothic horror….” – Broadway Baby *****

“…What Marty Ross does with literature’s most mystical and macabre works is make them sing with new energy and beguile an audience all over again…. poetically re-worked ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’ manages, in its modernisation, to preserve and revere the original, even intensifying its impact… a bewitchingly good story that leaves a haunting reminder long after the lights have gone down.” - 3 Weeks ****

“Ross has a great aptitude for suspense and terror, and he hurls himself into his tale with energy and passion, in words which ring with Glasgow rhythm. An accomplished piece of work… a chilling conclusion.” – 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

Well established as a playwright, particularly with dark drama for BBC radio (Ghost Zone, Catch My Breath, Darker Side Of The Border, Rough Magick & Lady Macbeth Of Mtsensk; another Poe show, Moyamensing, is to be BBC Radio Scotland's big Halloween show this year, with another new play, The Dead Of Fenwick Moor, to be broadcast in the new year), plus Doctor Who & award-nominated Dark Shadows audio drama, as well as Blood And Stone, nominated for a 2012 Rondo Award (horror fandom’s Oscars), Ross also regularly performs as a live storyteller, particularly in Scotland, his native country, and in the East Midlands, where he currently lives, this year having already seen him perform The Strange Tale Of The Glasgow Golem & Falling For The Ushers in Nottingham. Previously in Belper he has performed Falling For The Ushers & The Blackwater Bride. Two plays of his have been commissioned for the last two Buxton Festivals – Redder Than Roses: A Glimpse Of Mary, Queen Of Scots & The Woman On The Bridge. A new play has been commissioned by Cromford Mill for premiere in October of this year. 

FALLING FOR THE USHERS: My show for Nottingham LIGHT NIGHT!

Just posting details of FALLING FOR THE USHERS, the storytelling show I'm performing for Nottingham Light Night at Nottingham Central Library on Fri Feb 6th.

21^st. CENTURY POE: FALLING FOR THE USHERS

Nottingham Central Library, Light Night, February 6th, 7.30pm. Tickets £2.50. To book: 0115-915-2825 or email:

enquiryline@nottinghamcity.gov.uk

Scottish storyteller & playwright Marty Ross (BBC Radio horror; Doctor Who audio) drags The Fall Of The House Of Usher kicking & screaming into the modern world, in a show already a hit at the Edinburgh Fringe & London Horror Festivals!

Edgar Allan Poe's The Fall Of The House Of Usher is long-established as a classic horror tale, but Marty Ross is a ‘modernist’ on the live storytelling scene, keen to rescue this resurgent form from backward looking quaintness. Thus, in his version, Falling For The Ushers, haunted twins Roderick and Madeline Usher have left behind the misty Gothic manor of the original story to become superstars of Glasgow's contemporary art world, thanks to their macabre conceptual installations in the manner of Damien Hirst and the Chapman Bros. But when Madeline’s old art school admirer Ed shows up, their tragic downfall is as inescapable as ever. And Marty Ross's unique performing style, combining evocative language with expressionistic mime and gesture, makes full-blown theatre out of the story as he embodies a whole cast list of larger than life characters.

FALLING FOR THE USHERS has already been a hit at the Edinburgh Fringe and London Horror Festivals, as testified by the reviews it received:

“Insanely good storytelling… a master craftsman who never turns down the pressure… Ross’ violently impressive performance make this a heart-pounding triumph… Trainspotting meets gothic horror….” – Broadway Baby *****

“…What Marty Ross does with literature’s most mystical and macabre works is make them sing with new energy and beguile an audience all over again…. poetically re-worked ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’ manages, in its modernisation, to preserve and revere the original, even intensifying its impact… a bewitchingly good story that leaves a haunting reminder long after the lights have gone down.” - 3 Weeks ****

“Ross has a great aptitude for suspense and terror, and he hurls himself into his tale with energy and passion, in words which ring with Glasgow rhythm. An accomplished piece of work… a chilling conclusion.” – 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

Well established as a playwright, particularly with dark drama for BBC radio (Ghost Zone, Catch My Breath, Darker Side Of The Border, Rough Magick & Lady Macbeth Of Mtsensk; another Poe show, Moyamensing, BBC Radio Scotland's 2014 Halloween show this year, as well as 2014's The Dead Of Fenwick Moor, plus Doctor Who & award-nominated Dark Shadows audio drama, as well as Blood And Stone, nominated for a 2012 Rondo Award (horror fandom’s Oscars), Ross also regularly performs as a live storyteller, particularly in Scotland, his native country, and in the East Midlands, where he currently lives, this year having already seen him perform his latest show The Strange Tale Of The Glasgow Golem at Chilwell Arts Theatre, Nottingham. Two plays of his have been commissioned for the last two Buxton Festivals – Redder Than Roses: A Glimpse Of Mary, Queen Of Scots & The Woman On The Bridge.

THE STRANGE TALE OF THE GLASGOW GOLEM - Coming Soon to Chilwell Arts

JUST PASTING PRESS RELEASE FOR MY LATEST STORYTELLING SHOW, WHICH PREMIERES AT CHILWELL ARTS THEATRE, NOTTINGHAM ON 31st. JANUARY 2015.


THE STRANGE TALE OF THE GLASGOW GOLEM
A Storytelling Show by MARTY ROSS (BBC Radio drama; Doctor Who audio;
Edinburgh Fringe)

Chilwell Arts Theatre, Saturday 3st. January 2015, 7.30pm. Tickets £8 / £6

Before Frankenstein, there was... The Golem! A medieval Jewish legend
comes to life again in late 1970s Glasgow in the latest storytelling
show by Chilwell Arts Centre's very own Marty Ross.

For a couple of years now, storyteller and playwright Marty Ross has
been entertaining Chilwell audiences with his very modern take on the
very ancient art of live storytelling, presenting shows based around
classic ghost stories, the tales of Thomas Hardy and, most
spectacularly, his epic Gothic melodrama The Blackwater Bride. For his
latest show, he transports an ancient Mittel-European legend to his
own home town of Glasgow, creating a modern fairy tale mingling
thrills and humour, fantasy and gritty reality, the magical and the
moving.

When lonely, bullied 13 year old Joe helps an old man push a
mysterious box up the stairs of the tower block in which both are
living, little does he realise he is being given access to a strange,
magical power - in the form of the mighty stone man The Golem who once
saved the Jewish ghetto in Prague from its oppressors. Perhaps The
Golem can rescue Joe from his tormentors - or will this almost human
creature with a good heart but a very short temper prove more trouble
than he's worth?

One way or another, audiences are guaranteed a unique theatrical
experience, for Marty Ross is not the sort of storyteller who sits in
a comfy chair and reads from a storybook - rather, he forms a sort of
one man theatre company, vividly enacting a whole cast of
larger-than-life characters, employing movement and gesture as much as
powerfully evocative words, plus music, a specially designed set and,
in the case of this show, video projections to conjure a whole
dramatic world for his audience.

"Insanely good storytelling... a master craftsman" - Broadway Baby;

"A compelling narrator and onstage presence... immensely entertaining" -
Fringe Review.

21st CENTURY POE: FALLING FOR THE USHERS at No. 28 Belper

Just announced - a week after my Halloween show 21st. CENTURY POE: FALLING FOR THE USHERS at Lee Rosy's, Nottingham, I'll be performing the same show at No. 28 Belper, where I performed The Blackwater Bride back in the spring. Here's the details...

21^st. CENTURY POE: FALLING FOR THE USHERS

No. 28 Belper, Market Square, Belper. Saturday 8^th. November 2014. 7.30 pm.

Tickets £7 / £5 concession.

Scottish storyteller & playwright Marty Ross (BBC Radio horror; Doctor Who audio) drags The Fall Of The House Of Usher kicking & screaming into the modern world, in a show already a hit at the Edinburgh Fringe & London Horror Festivals!

Edgar Allan Poe's The Fall Of The House Of Usher is long-established as a classic horror tale, but Marty Ross is a ‘modernist’ on the live storytelling scene, keen to rescue this resurgent form from backward looking quaintness. Thus, in his version, Falling For The Ushers, haunted twins Roderick and Madeline Usher have left behind the misty Gothic manor of the original story to become superstars of Glasgow's contemporary art world, thanks to their macabre conceptual installations in the manner of Damien Hirst and the Chapman Bros. But when Madeline’s old art school admirer Ed shows up, their tragic downfall is as inescapable as ever. And Marty Ross's unique performing style, combining evocative language with expressionistic mime and gesture, makes full-blown theatre out of the story as he embodies a whole cast list of larger than life characters.

FALLING FOR THE USHERS has already been a hit at the Edinburgh Fringe and London Horror Festivals, as testified by the reviews it received:

“Insanely good storytelling… a master craftsman who never turns down the pressure… Ross’ violently impressive performance make this a heart-pounding triumph… Trainspotting meets gothic horror….” – Broadway Baby *****

“…What Marty Ross does with literature’s most mystical and macabre works is make them sing with new energy and beguile an audience all over again…. poetically re-worked ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’ manages, in its modernisation, to preserve and revere the original, even intensifying its impact… a bewitchingly good story that leaves a haunting reminder long after the lights have gone down.” - 3 Weeks ****

“Ross has a great aptitude for suspense and terror, and he hurls himself into his tale with energy and passion, in words which ring with Glasgow rhythm. An accomplished piece of work… a chilling conclusion.” – 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

Well established as a playwright, particularly with dark drama for BBC radio (Ghost Zone, Catch My Breath, Darker Side Of The Border, Rough Magick & Lady Macbeth Of Mtsensk; another Poe show, Moyamensing, is to be BBC Radio Scotland's big Halloween show this year, with another new play, The Dead Of Fenwick Moor, to be broadcast in the new year), plus Doctor Who & award-nominated Dark Shadows audio drama, as well as Blood And Stone, nominated for a 2012 Rondo Award (horror fandom’s Oscars), Ross also regularly performs as a live storyteller, particularly in Scotland, his native country, and in the East Midlands, where he currently lives, this year having already seen him perform The Blackwater Bride in Nottingham and Derbyshire, and 21^st Century Poe: Moyamensing at this year's Edinburgh Festival. Two plays of his have been commissioned for the last two Buxton Festivals – Redder Than Roses: A Glimpse Of Mary, Queen Of Scots & The Woman On The Bridge.

CONTACT: 07989-746641.

21st Century Poe: Falling For The Ushers at Lee Rosy's, Nottingham, this Halloween!

Just pasting in the press release for my next storytelling show....

21^st. CENTURY POE: FALLING FOR THE USHERS

Lee Rosy's Tea Shop, 17 Broad Street, Nottingham NG1 3AJ.

31^st. October 2014, 20.00. Tickets £3.50 (pay on door)

Descend into the basement at Lee Rosy's to spend Halloween with Edgar Allan Poe -- as celebrated Scottish storyteller & playwright Marty Ross (BBC Radio horror; Doctor Who audio) drags The Fall Of The House Of Usher kicking & screaming into the modern world, in a show already a hit at the Edinburgh Fringe & London Horror Festivals!

Halloween is fast approaching, and what better way to celebrate the creepiest night of the year than with the art of the terror tale in its oldest, purest, most 'unplugged' form, that of live storytelling? Descend into a cosy basement with a modern master of the art of the storyteller's art, as he gives his unique modern retelling of the most famous tale of the greatest horror writer of all - and with a good bracing cuppa within easy reach!

Edgar Allan Poe's The Fall Of The House Of Usher is long-established as a classic horror tale, but Marty Ross is a ‘modernist’ on the live storytelling scene, keen to rescue this resurgent form from backward looking quaintness. Thus, in his version, Falling For The Ushers, haunted, incestuous twins Roderick and Madeline Usher have left behind the misty gothic manor of the original story to become superstars of Glasgow's contemporary art world, thanks to their macabre conceptual installations in the manner of Damien Hirst and the Chapman Bros. But when Madeline’s old art school admirer Ed shows up, their tragic downfall is as inescapable as ever. And Marty Ross's unique performing style, combining evocative language with expressionistic mime and gesture, makes full-blown theatre out of the story as he embodies a whole cast list of larger than life characters.

FALLING FOR THE USHERS has already been a hit at the Edinburgh Fringe and London Horror Festivals, as testified by the reviews it received:

“Insanely good storytelling… a master craftsman who never turns down the pressure… Ross’ violently impressive performance make this a heart-pounding triumph… Trainspotting meets gothic horror….” – Broadway Baby *****

“…What Marty Ross does with literature’s most mystical and macabre works is make them sing with new energy and beguile an audience all over again…. poetically re-worked ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’ manages, in its modernisation, to preserve and revere the original, even intensifying its impact… a bewitchingly good story that leaves a haunting reminder long after the lights have gone down.” - 3 Weeks ****

“Ross has a great aptitude for suspense and terror, and he hurls himself into his tale with energy and passion, in words which ring with Glasgow rhythm. An accomplished piece of work… a chilling conclusion.” – 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

Well established as a playwright, particularly with dark drama for BBC radio (Ghost Zone, Catch My Breath, Darker Side Of The Border, Rough Magick & Lady Macbeth Of Mtsensk; another Poe show, Moyamensing, is to be BBC Radio Scotland's big Halloween show this year, with another new play, The Dead Of Fenwick Moor, to be broadcast in the new year), plus Doctor Who & award-nominated Dark Shadows audio drama, as well as Blood And Stone, nominated for a 2012 Rondo Award (horror fandom’s Oscars), Ross also regularly performs as a live storyteller, particularly in Scotland, his native country, and in the East Midlands, where he currently lives, this year having already seen him perform The Blackwater Bride in Nottingham and Derbyshire, and 21^st Century Poe: Moyamensing at this year's Edinburgh Festival. Two plays of his have been commissioned for the last two Buxton Festivals – Redder Than Roses: A Glimpse Of Mary, Queen Of Scots & The Woman On The Bridge.