Ghosts and Dinosaurs
Two brand new theatre shows for 2025
I’m announcing two new theatre shows! And they’re pretty much polar opposites. One to make you laugh, one to make you scream. Hopefully we’ll get those things the right way round.
“It Walks Around The House At Night”
The Engine Room, Wigan, October/November 2025 + National Tour 2026
I do love a horror play. There’s something special about watching something that makes me flinch in my seat and makes the audience around me gasp. It feels like a real collective, theatrical experience.
So when ThickSkin, part of the team behind our sell-out show DRIFTWOOD, suggested they were keen to do something similar… I gave them zero option but to get me on board.
IT WALKS AROUND THE HOUSE AT NIGHT is a ghost story. An out-of-work actor gets a job as a spook and has to wander around a manor house every night for a week. That’s an easy gig, right? Surely nothing weird At All could possibly happen…
…but even then, this will not go the way you expect. I can’t say much else cos it’s all terribly Top Secret, but this is a play in the manner of THE WOMAN IN BLACK or GHOST STORIES. There will be twists and turns and our aim is to scare you senseless. Genuinely, I may be too nervous to watch it myself, and I’ve written it.
We’re premiering the show this Halloween at ThickSkin’s brand new theatre space, The Engine Room, in Wigan, 24th October to 5th Nov. If you are local to Greater Manchester, come check it out - it’s going to be exceptionally spooky. Also, the new theatre has an excellent bar. (Some great places to eat nearby too. The pizzas at Hideout? Feast at the Mills? Yum. Make a night of it.)
Tickets to IT WALKS AROUND THE HOUSE AT NIGHT at The Engine Room, Wigan
If you’re not in the least North West-y, it will be touring nationally in 2026. Watch this space!
“Jurassic”
The Kings Arms, Salford, July 2025 + Soho Theatre, London, November 2025
Do you want a silly comedy about disinformation and dinosaurs? Yes you do. JURASSIC is a surreal story about something going very wrong on a university campus, following a screening of a certain Steven Spielberg classic. Guess which one. This is a play which was both inspired by a true story and inspired by a dream I had, two delicious cliches which somehow are true and have resulted in something quite ridiculous. I want you to visualise David Mamet’s OLEANNA… but one that’s just a lil too obsessed with T-Rexes.
I’m making JURASSIC with Ransack Theatre, some of the Best Lads in the industry (and are actually Associate Artists of ThickSkin! My worlds collide). We’ll be playing in London - at the glorious Soho Theatre, 18 to 29th November. I haven’t made a show in London since 2017’s ASTRONAUTS OF HARTLEPOOL, so it’ll be fun heading back. How is the city? Do you still have Pret?
Yet for those of you local to me in the North West - you must not despair! You have the exciting job of helping us hone it! Yes, we’re going to be previewing it at the Manchester Fringe Festival on the 29th and 30th July. We’ll probably slip in a couple of other previews elsewhere too, so I’ll sound the dino-horn later down the line. Basically we need to make it as funny as possible before we head to the capital, because you know, Londoners, bless em.
Tickets to JURASSIC at the Manchester Fringe Festival
Tickets to JURASSIC at the Soho Theatre, London
(Making Plays in Tricky Times)
Whenever I talk theatre stuff lately, it’s hard not to talk about it being on fire, cos everything is fire.
But… things are bad for the UK scene. The Government is cutting money for the arts. Local councils will likely be pulling back on funding. And let’s not get into the whole ‘tech companies are stealing our intellectual properties and this current administration seems to be doing their best to help them’ situation. That’s depressing.
Now, of course I want you to come see my shows because They Are My Shows - and honestly, you’re gonna have a bloody good time at them. BUT also I want you to come to them to support the people who are making great work in supremely difficult times.
So, if you can - I’d love you to book your tickets sooner rather than later! Pre-sales go a long long way, not just in terms of money, but also to show other venues the work is popular and profitable and hey, you should hire us again.
And I may dust off an old donation page too - I’m running out of shiny DVDs to sell to CEX. Maybe I’ll start putting this in my newsletters regularly…?
But if you’re not in a position to do any of that - do not worry! Another way you can help is to share share share! Sometimes it’s as simple as getting the word out. Share links to the show pages, or maybe even this Substack. Put a shiny post on your socials saying how excited you are. Even just a text to a mate saying, ‘go see this’ - it really helps us to build our audience.
Thank you. I feel very lucky at the moment with my theatre ventures. A tour of DRIFTWOOD at the start of the year, and now these two beauties coming in the autumn? It can be feast or famine as a freelancer, and I’m feasting right now. Do excuse the crumbs.