We are less than a week away from Grimmfest 2023, and a special, spooky addition has been added to this year’s Manchester-based festival.
Performer Adam Z. Robinson, is bringing his excellent one-man show Haunted to The Lion’s Den on Friday 6 October as part of the festival.
We caught up with Adam to find out more about Haunted –
What can you tell us about the Haunted show?
HAUNTED is two ghost stories, brought to life on stage. They’re classic tales – ‘The Monkey’s Paw‘by W.W. Jacobs and ‘The Upper Berth’ by F. Marion Crawford. I think they’re two of the greatest ghost stories ever written. It’s a solo performance, a play, not just a storytelling show, with a full set and an immersive soundscape. It’s chilling, cozy, even a little scary and jumpy in places. Most of all, it’s really fun. Ghost story fans will love it!
How daunting is it to be a one-man show?
I’m a really anxious person in ‘real life’, and I cope with that by trying to be organized and trying to plan for what’s ahead. For lots of people, I can understand why being on stage might be their worst nightmare, so it might come as a surprise when I say that I honestly think being on stage is the time I feel most calm. By the time I step out and the lights come up, everything is in its place: I’ve rehearsed with my director, Dick, I know the lines inside out, all of the sound and lighting cues are ready, the set and props are organized, our technical stage manager, Charlotte, is there at the back of the room operating the show. Very little is left to chance. And on the very few occasions when something goes wrong, it’s always fixable. And people get it, it’s part of the thrill of live theatre. So, once all of that is taken care of, it’s just me, the stories, and the audience.
Is there a sort of litmus test with ghost stories to ensure they scare the audience? I suppose it’s like comedy in the sense that you want to trigger reactions in the audience.
When we find those moments in our shows that scare audiences, and make them jump, it’s really exciting. I would say that scaring audiences isn’t the only trick in the book, though. We want them to feel something. Sometimes the aim is to scare, sometimes it’s to make them laugh or feel moved or tense or thrilled. It is possible to make a poor story ‘scary’ with lots of jolts and jumps, and I think it’s possible to tell a really enrapturing, beautiful tale without any tricks or production values at all. For me, it’s about the combination. When you have a fantastic story, atmospheric lighting, an immersive soundscape, and a shock or two in the right places, it’s just magical. That’s what we’ve aimed for with HAUNTED. I remember the first time I read ‘The Upper Berth’ and realized it played out like a horror movie – gross descriptions, frightening images, real jeopardy for the protagonist and reader. We’ve tried to bring that sense of horror to the show – I think it’s the ‘scarier’ of the two stories. And as for ‘The Monkey’s Paw’, it’s just one of the most sad, horrifying, chilling stories ever written. But even in that, there’s a sense of warmth and humour to be seen between the family members. Ours is a very, very faithful adaptation of that story and I’m always surprised how many people think we’ve changed it. It’s one of those stories you know your own version of – it sort of belongs to all of us, in that sense.
How did you get started in performing on-stage?
I had no aspirations to act at all, really. I ended up doing it by accident. But it may be the thing I love doing most of all, and I never take it for granted. There’s an event in Leeds called Light Night, an arts festival over a couple of nights. In 2015, I put in an application for some money to tell a ghost story in an old church, accompanied by a violin player (Ben Styles). But, there wasn’t enough to also pay an actor – so I did it myself. Five performances over a single night to around 1,600 people. It was terrifying, I had no idea what I was doing. But we got some incredible feedback from the audience, so we decided to keep doing it. I don’t think I started to feel like I knew what I was doing on stage until about halfway through our second tour of The Book of Darkness & Light (our first show). And then I started to see every single rehearsal and every single performance as a chance to grow as an actor, to get better at it, to learn. I suppose that has been my training. In the last eight years, I’ve made five shows, done eight tours, and performed in front of more than 13,000 people. I’m so thrilled that people come to see the plays, I’m so grateful.
What attracts you to ghost stories?
When I try to answer this I often say things like: they’re cozy, they’re fun, they’re atmospheric, it’s an incredibly broad, elastic genre with almost boundless possibilities. All of these things are true, but I think what attracts me to them is the feeling I get when I read them. And that, annoyingly, is more or less indescribable: it’s both homely and unsettling, I’m on edge and comfortable, thrilled and relaxed. They light a fire in me and I’m just obsessed with them. I have a podcast called The Ghost Story Book Club in which I geek out about classic stories with some incredible guests – it’s my outlet, my way to tell the world how much I adore them.
Do you think modern horror is missing the classic ghost story or are there some modern horrors you’d recommend?
I’m always happy to see more classic ghost stories in cinema, bring them on. If the Conjuring universe films are your thing, I think we’ve been spoiled, in the last few years, with lots of classic-vibe movies. Some of my favorite ghost story films are The Orphanage (2007), The Others (2001), His House (2020), Mama (2013), The Innocents (1961), The Haunting (1963) and the film I think I’m most evangelical about, Lake Mungo (2008). My friend Mike Muncer (The Evolution of Horror podcast) introduced me to it, and it more or less jumped to the top spot. And none of this is to mention TV films like Whistle and I’ll Come to You (1968), The Woman in Black (1989), The Exorcism (1972), and the more modern M.R. James adaptations that Mark Gatiss has brought to our screens, such as The Tractate Middoth (2013) and The Mezzotint (2021). Do you need more recommendations? I’ve got ’em.
How exciting is it to be bringing the show to Grimmfest?
Very! I’m from the north myself (Halifax) and it’s so fantastic to have such a brilliant, thriving festival in this part of the country. The program this year looks incredible. It’s a real honor to be even a small part of it. I’ll be around the whole festival, too, so I’m excited to meet like-minded horror fans.
Are there plans for another nationwide tour of your brand of ghost stories?
Always. I’m currently working on the sixth and seventh shows by The Book of Darkness & Light. The first, Unhomely, should be making an appearance in Spring 2024. This is a big show made up of three of my original, never-heard-before ghost stories. And we’re already booking dates for a tour of another brand new show which will be a trio of adapted classic stories: that will be hitting stages in autumn/winter 2024. But before that, I’m taking HAUNTED to seven other theatres this autumn. Then, in December, I’m taking my ghostly adaptation of A Christmas Carol to a theatre in New Brunswick, Canada. Like I said before, I never take any of this for granted and I’m extremely grateful to everyone who comes along to see a show.
HAUNTED is on tour from 6th October – 1 November. For full tour dates and venues, please visit: https://linktr.ee/tbodal
Follow Adam online on Twitter @adam_zed and The Book of Darkness & Light at @darklightbook
Join them on Facebook at www.facebook.com/thebookofdarknessandlight.
Bloody Flicks 