21st CENTURY POE: FALLING FOR THE USHERS at Chilwell Arts Theatre Saturday October 29th

My two Glasgow shows last week at the wonderful Britannia Panopticon - In The Dark for BBC Radio Scotland & my own The Gorbals Vampire - went well, with full houses and wonderful appreciative audiences both nights.

But I've barely got time to draw breath before my two shows on Halloween weekend. On Sunday 30th October, I'm performing The Gorbals Vampire at the No. 28 Arts Centre in Belper, Derbyshire - more on that to follow. 

But first up, on Saturday 29th October, is 21st CENTURY POE: FALLING FOR THE USHERS, in which I radically reinvent Poe's "Fall Of The House Of Usher" for our era.

Haunted twins Roderick & Madeline Usher are no longer glooming it around a Gothic mansion in the middle of nowhere, but are now superstars of Glasgow's contemporary conceptual art scene, Turner prize nominees for their macabre installations. But when an old flame of Madeline's from Glasgow School of Art shows up, the stage is set for a tragic downfall as dramatic and disturbing as that in the original tale.

This has always been one of my best received shows and I've performed it at the likes of the Edinburgh & Glasgow Southside Fringes, as well as the London Horror Festival - and it's great to be bringing it, finally, to my theatrical 'home base' at Chilwell Arts Theatre. I was just rehearsing today while our wonderful resident production designer Stuart was busy painting a bit of Jackson Pollock-style set design. My shows are always a bigger, grander affair at Chilwell!

Want to book for this unique Halloween event?

Contact Michael Schillinger of Chilwell Arts Theatre at: 07772 053412 or at: michael@chilwellartstheatre.co.uk

THE GORBALS VAMPIRE & IN THE DARK at Glasgow's Britannia Panopticon this week

Home in Glasgow gearing up for a big week of dramatic storytelling at one of my favourite venues, the hugely atmospheric Britannia Panopticon Music Hall - basically, if the Phantom Of The Opera was playing gigs in Glasgow, this is where he'd play.

On Tuesday, I'm performing as one of a whole line up of storytellers in BBC Radio Scotland's IN THE DARK, performing a very gritty contemporary Glaswegian ghost story about the dark side of MacHismo, A Whisper Of Black Silk. I understand this show is SOLD OUT already, but if you miss it live, the show is being recorded and will be broadcast on Radio Scotland on Halloween itself.

Then, the very next night, Wed 12th October at 7pm, I'm performing my full length drama THE GORBALS VAMPIRE, already a sell-out at this year's Southside Fringe back in the Spring. This is my dark, disturbing and darkly comic take on the local legend of an iron toothed vampire haunting the city's Southern Necropolis. I spent much of my formative years -- and learned the ropes of storytelling -- living with my Grandmother just about ten minutes' walk away in her tenement on the corner of Butterbiggins and Langside Road: you can't imagine how much of a big deal it was to this Hammer Horror-daft kid to hear that the last great vampire 'panic' of European history had happened a couple of streets away. So this show is a big deal to me. Tickets (£8 / £6) are bookable here.... 

http://tickets-scotland.com/events.html?event_method=viewevent&event_id=574466b5-6b9d-11e6-b2cc-22000b75ede9

And don't forget, I'm also performing Halloween weekend down England way... Saturday 29th October sees me performing 21st CENTURY POE: FALLING FOR THE USHERS at another favourite haunt, Chilwell Arts Theatre.

And then on Sunday 30th. October I'm back at No.28 in Belper performing, you guessed it, THE GORBALS VAMPIRE all over again. Tickets for that show are now available at www.BrownPaperTickets.com

The Gorbals Vampire returns to Glasgow - Britannia Panopticon October 12th!!!

Just gearing up for the epic month of spooky storytelling which  the Halloween month of October will inevitably usher in. I'll be performing two nights running at Glasgow's Britannia Panopticon music hall on October 11th & 12th. On the 11th. I'm performing as part of BBC Radio Scotland's IN THE DARK show, which will be recorded for Halloween broadcast. And then on October 12th. there's THIS....

THE GORBALS VAMPIRE
A dramatic storytelling show by Marty Ross.

12th October 7pm at Britannia Panopticon, 113 – 117 Trongate, Glasgow G1 5HD.
Venue contact: 0141 553 0840 / info@britanniapanopticon.org

Tickets £8 / Concession £6

To Book Tickets, here's the link... http://tickets-scotland.com/events.html?event_method=viewevent&event_id=574466b5-6b9d-11e6-b2cc-22000b75ede9

Ghoulish and gallus... Gothic and grotesque and blood-glugging... gaun yirsel' – spend an evening with Glasgow's very own Gorbals Vampire!

Glasgow's very own vampire legend comes to disturbing dramatic life in this unique performance by master storyteller and playwright Marty Ross at Glasgow's most atmospheric and historic performing space ... just the thing to get Glasgow in the mood for Halloween, after sell-out success at this year's Southside Fringe.

It was in the 1950s that kids in Glasgow's Gorbals became convinced that the Southern Necropolis was haunted by an iron toothed vampire with a taste for children. Mass hysteria erupted among both young and old, kids embarking nightly on vampire hunts, wooden stakes in hand, while panicked adults called the police and demanded a ban on the US horror comics perceived  - erroneously, modern historians believe - to be responsible: much more authentically local traditions were involved.

But this true story ended rather anti-climatically: there doesn't,
disappointingly, seem to have been a real vampire in the graveyard.
But Marty Ross' drama asks: what if? What if there actually was a
"something" there, very ancient and strange and terrible? And what if one vampire mad boy found himself in the vampire's clutches?

Thus the Gorbals gets its very own full blown Gothic horror myth, a story aspiring to do for Glasgow's south side what Dracula did for
Transylvania, what the Phantom did for the Paris Opera, as a
disturbing tale is spun of innocence lost and - possibly – regained.
This won't be Glasgow's only Gorbals Vampire show this Halloween, but Ross' show came first (premiering at 2015 Edinburgh Fringe) and is a very different vampiric beast -- an edgy, under-your-skin, in-your-face, full-blooded modern horror story, extreme and grotesque even in its humour.

Those who have attended Ross' previous dramatic storytelling
performances, whether at the Edinburgh or Southside Fringes, at the Britannia Panopticon or the London Horror Festival, or at any of his other regular venues, will know that storytelling with Ross is far removed from the comfy chair Jackanory clichés of this oldest, yet suddenly newest, of theatrical forms. Rather his style is boldly
theatrical and expressionistic - and finds an ideal venue in the rough and ready grandeur of Glasgow's grand old Victorian music hall. How can you resist the spell of this very Glaswegian vampire?

“Marty Ross has mastered this art of storytelling...” TVBomb,
Edinburgh Fringe 2015

“Ross is a master craftsman who never turns down the pressure,
painting vile pictures and weaving a grotesque spell... Trainspotting
meets Gothic horror” Broadway Baby, Edinburgh Fringe 2013

“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.” The Scotsman. Edfringe 2013.

MARTY ROSS is a playwright and storyteller with a long track record in radio and audio drama, particularly for the BBC, for whom he has written drama ranging from the Radio 4 series The Darker Side Of The Border to the popular serials Ghost Zone and Catch My Breath to one-off dramas such as Rough Magick, My Blue Piano, Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, The Dead Of Fenwick Moor and Moyamensing: Scenes From The Life, Death & Dreams of Edgar Allan Poe. He has also written two Doctor Who audio dramas and an award-nominated Dark Shadows drama. He has also written drama for the Wireless Theatre Company, including two
plays commissioned by, and performed at, the Buxton Festival, Redder Than Roses and The Woman On The Bridge. This year has seen the release of his most acclaimed production yet, Romeo And Jude, an epic love story for Amazon Audible featuring Owen Teale (Game of Thrones) and Nick Moran (Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels) He also performs widely as a live storyteller in venues great and small ranging across Britain and Ireland.

MY AUTUMN SCHEDULE

Just updating the blog with some details of what I'll be up to over the next few months. First of all, I'm involved with writing another epic audio drama production for Amazon Audible, who commissioned my epic love story ROMEO & JUDE last year (via Wireless Theatre Company). More on that later (hint, hint) - don't want to give too much away while still only about a third of the way through a first draft. 

But in terms of storytelling performance, the Halloween month of October is going to be very busy. On October 11th. I'm performing as one of a series of Scottish storytellers in the show IN THE DARK. This will be performed live at Glasgow's glorious Britannia Panopticon Music Hall and recorded there for Halloween transmission on BBC Radio Scotland. The live performance is 'invitation only', but is I think free: check BBC Scotland for more info nearer the time.

Then, the very next night, October 12th, at the very same Victorian music hall, I'm performing my solo show THE GORBALS VAMPIRE, which sold out at this year's Glasgow Southside Fringe. The show is inspired by Glasgow's urban legend of an iron toothed vampire haunting the city's Southern Necropolis. More details on the background to that show are available elsewhere on this blog, i.e: HERE....

http://martyrossstoryteller.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/me-gorbals-vampire.html

And here's the link for the Britannia Panopticon's website, which has ticket details -

http://www.britanniapanopticon.org/what-s-on/

Then on Halloween weekend itself I'm performing The Gorbals Vampire at my old haunt of the No.28 arts centre in Belper, Derbyshire: that's on Sunday 30 October. 

That's a change of date, because the show I WAS going to be doing on the Sunday has been shifted to the SATURDAY...

SO... on Saturday 29 October, I'm performing old favourite 21st CENTURY POE: FALLING FOR THE USHERS, which I've performed to great acclaim just about everywhere except where I'm performing it this October: at my regular performing base of CAT: Chilwell Arts Theatre. 

And by the end of this year, there should be something BIG coming from Amazon Audible (big as several dinosaurs, hint hint!)

W A T C H   T H I S   S P A C E ! ! !

GORBALS VAMPIRE at Southside Fringe now SOLD OUT

Just a quick note to anyone who might be thinking of coming along to my Southside Fringe show THE GORBALS VAMPIRE tomorrow night Sat 14 (see preceding posts), the show is now SOLD OUT and as things stand I'm afraid there won't be much point in coming to the door on the night. IF there are any cancellations and any more tickets become available, I will let you know, but tickets are currently unavailable.

BUT THE GORBALS VAMPIRE will return. I'm currently booked to perform the show in Glasgow again at the Britannia Panopticon Music Hall in Argyll Street. That's in October, just ahead of Halloween, so watch this space for further details.

Tickets for THE GORBALS VAMPIRE at Glasgow Southside Fringe -- now available at Brown Paper Tickets

Further to my last post concerning my upcoming show at the Southside Fringe in my native Glasgow, just spreading the word that tickets are available both at the Southside Fringe box office, which this year is going to be located in The Art Village in Shawlands' main shopping centre on the main Kilmarnock Road, you can also get hold of tickets online at BROWN PAPER TICKETS. I'll post the LINK here -- http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/2544456 Remember... tickets are STRICTLY LIMITED for this very intimate venue.

Meanwhile, here's a rough draft of the poster!

THE GORBALS VAMPIRE returns - to Glasgow Southside Fringe Sat 14 May 2016

Yes, after successful performances at last year's Edinburgh and Nottingham Fringes, I'm bringing my show about Glasgow's very own Gorbals Vampire back where it belongs... to his and my native turf on the South Side of Glasgow at this year's Southside Fringe, where my 21st Century Poe shows were well received last year. I'll attach here a link to a previous post giving a little bit more of the historical background to the story.... here's the LINK below....

http://martyrossstoryteller.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/me-gorbals-vampire.html

And here I'll paste in the press release for the Southside show. Bear in mind this is a small, intimate venue and tickets will be strictly limited! Tickets are available from both the Southside Fringe Box Office at Art Village in the Shawlands Shopping Centre at 104 Kilmarnock Road in Glasgow, or from the Brown Paper Tickets website (link here): http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/2544456

PS: Here's a link to a SOUNDCLOUD "trailer" recording from my rehearsals... https://soundcloud.com/user-752957699/the-gorbals-vampire-trailer

THE GORBALS VAMPIRE

A dramatic storytelling show by Marty Ross for Glasgow Southside Fringe 2016.

14^th. May at Number 6, 6 Carment Drive, Shawlands G41 3PP.

Venue contact: 07761 299 717

8pm (for 8.30). Tickets £10 (includes food)

Ghoulish and garrulous... Gothic and grotesque and blood-glugging... gaun yirsel' – spend an evening with Glasgow's very own Gorbals Vampire!

Glasgow's very own vampire legend comes to disturbing dramatic life in the latest performance by master storyteller and playwright Marty Ross... What better show to chill spines at this year's Glasgow Southside Fringe?

Well received at last year's Southside Fringe was Ross' 21st Century Poe, in which he not only updated two classic terror tales by Edgar Allan Poe, but relocated them to the streets of his native Glasgow. Now he goes one better, by building this new show around a native horror legend of Glasgow's South side.

It was in the 1950s that local kids in Glasgow's Gorbals became convinced that the vast graveyard of the Southern Necropolis was haunted by an iron toothed vampire with a taste for children. Mass hysteria erupted among both young and old, kids embarking nightly on vampire hunts, wooden stakes in hand,  while panicked adults called the police and demanded a ban on the US horror comics perceived - erroneously, modern historians agree - to be responsible: much more authentically local traditions were involved.

But this true story ended rather anti-climactically: there doesn't, disappointingly, seem to have been any real vampire in the graveyard. But Marty Ross" drama asks: what if? What if there actually was a "something" there, very ancient and strange and terrible? And what if one vampire mad boy found himself in the vampire's clutches?

Thus the Gorbals gets its very own full blown Gothic horror myth, a story aspiring to do for Glasgow's south side what Dracula did for Transylvania, what the Phantom did for the Paris Opera, as a tale is spun - dramatic, theatrical, darkly humorous but deeply disturbing, of innocence lost and - possibly - regained.

Those who have attended Ross' previous dramatic storytelling performances, whether at the Edinburgh Fringe or Southside Fringe or the London Horror Festival, or any of his other regular venues, will know that storytelling with Ross is far removed from the comfy chair Jackanory clichés of this oldest, yet suddenly newest, of theatrical forms. Rather his style is boldly theatrical and expressionistic - and here finds itself a fascinating new venue at No. 6 in Shawlands, a performance space combining the intimacy of a domestic fireside setting - so traditional for storytelling - with the room to create a startling one man theatrical spectacle. Please note the £ 10 ticket price also includes food and drink both before and at the interval of the show.

How can you resist the spell of this very Glaswegian vampire?

“Marty Ross has mastered this art of storytelling...” TVBomb, Edinburgh Fringe 2015

“Ross is a master craftsman who never turns down the pressure, painting vile pictures and weaving a grotesque spell... Trainspotting meets Gothic horror” Broadway Baby, Edinburgh Fringe 2013

“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.” The Scotsman. Edfringe 2013.

MARTY ROSS is a playwright and storyteller with a long track record in radio and audio drama, particularly for the BBC, for whom he has written drama ranging from the Radio 4 series The Darker Side Of The Border to the popular serials Ghost Zone and Catch My Breath to one-off dramas such as Rough Magick, My Blue Piano, Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, The Dead Of Fenwick Moor and Moyamensing: Scenes From The Life, Death & Dreams of Edgar Allan Poe. He has also written two Doctor Who audio dramas and an award-nominated Dark Shadows drama. He has also written drama for the Wireless Theatre Company, including two plays commissioned by, and performed at, the Buxton Festival, Redder Than Roses and The Woman On The Bridge. This year has seen the release of his most acclaimed production yet, Romeo And Jude, an epic production for Amazon Audible featuring Owen Teale and Nick Moran. He also performs widely as a live storyteller in venues great and small ranging across Britain and Ireland.