production, new adaptations of HP Lovecraft’s ‘The Call of
Cthulhu’.
Lovecraft’s work may not be known in the mainstream but his influence on horror and sci-fi writing is immense. So many other writers, filmmakers and creative artists have been inspired by the Cthulhu stories. The tales were years ahead of their time, having been written in the 1920’s. The language is so descriptive and vivid that attempting any stage version would be a real challenge.
We would only have just over an hour to tell the stories with four actors and a chorus of student performers who will audition from New College’s performing arts department in September. The four actors would play the main roles within the story and the chorus playing smaller roles and being a physical theatre ensemble that create scenes and the strange images Lovecraft
describes.
To help us in all this is Lovecraft fanatic, Laurence Clift. Laurence has an encyclopaedic knowledge of the stories, characters and atmosphere Lovecraft is creating. Over three days we knocked up a script that has a strong narrative that speaks directly to the audience and brings them into the weird world of Cthulhu. Laurence would know what dialogue to include (and leave out) and ideas for theatrical images would also be discussed and listed. The real challenge will be when we have only four days to bring the complex story to life!
In the meantime, the four actors have their scripts to start learning and attempt to get their tongues around some of those phrases...‘Ph’nglui mglw’nafh cthulhu r’lyeh wgah’ nagl fhtagn’anyone?
A blog on auditions will appear in September.