With the nights drawing in, the Oxford Theatre Guild (OTG) is preparing something decidedly dark and gothic for its autumn show with Gormenghast.
Coming to The Old Fire Station on Tuesday, 22 October, and running until Sunday 27, Gormenghast is a wild and ambitious adaptation of Mervyn Peake’s beloved fantasy trilogy.
This marks a departure for the OTG, whose last three shows were Much Ado About Nothing, The Importance of Being Earnest, and Constellations – famous crowd-pleasers or a modern two-hander.
Anticipating the challenge, Director Jordan Bische said, “I made the decision to keep the staging as stark as possible and use lighting and sound to create the world of Gormenghast Castle.
“This has meant that the cast has had to stretch themselves to the full. I’m asking them to sell impossibilities to the audience – a man being carried away by owls, a fistfight in a flooded courtyard, an entire library being consumed by flames”
Bische, Assistant Director of last year’s Macbeth for OTG, has long imagined adapting the series. “I’m a huge fan of the novels, which are full of lush prose, gorgeous descriptions, and conflicted characters, and to find the whole thing condensed into a 60-page script set my imagination afire,” he said.
“None of the richness and atmosphere of the novels has been lost in translation. The characters, too, are all given the opportunity to be as vivid and grotesque on stage as Mervyn Peake imagined them on the page.
“Lovers of the original novels will find their favourite moments translated faithfully and with great care. They may also find a few new surprising twists and turns.”
Bische was quick to add, however, that audience members need not be familiar with the original work to find plenty to enjoy in the show. “‘I also promise that those who haven’t read the novels will find a home in Gormenghast Castle.
“No other theatre production this season can provide you with so much action, destruction, and sheer character. Also, it’s Halloween! Come and spend the night in a haunted castle with its cat-mad Countess, sullen butler, and psychopathic kitchen boy.”
If this sounds like ‘your kind of crazy’, you definitely won’t want to miss Gormenghast’s run.
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