LONDON HORROR FESTIVAL 2018 Announced

It's ... ALIVE! The UK's biggest festival of live horror performance is resurrected for its 8th year. The London Horror Festival continues to grow to evermore monstrous size with help from their sponsor, Horror Channel. This year it returns to the Old Red Lion Theatre with over 30 productions to curdle your blood, chill your spine, and split your sides. For four weeks this Halloween season, theatre-goers will be subjected to shocking experimentations in drama, comedy, musicals, and spoken word.

On this portentous year they honour the grand matriarch of Gothic horror, Mary Shelley. She serves as the inspiration for the theme of their annual playwriting competition ("Women in Horror"), which continues to galvanise new talent and sets the festival in motion on the 7th October. On its 200th anniversary, they reanimate her most enduring creation, Frankenstein, with three new productions. Witness Frankenstein as never before: gender-bent by Burn Bright Theatre in their female-led retelling; frozen in the Antarctic wilderness by Two-Body Problem's chilling contemporary continuation of the story; defiled by Fred Strangebone, who returns to put his twisted spin on Shelley's classic.

This year, the festival is teeming with monsters spanning the canon of classic horror, including a selection of Werewolf stories sure to satiate your appetite. You'll be in good company with Werewolf: Live, a comedy game show fresh from Edinburgh Fringe. The award-winning Big Bad blends powerful feminist narrative with a dash of lycanthropy. Finally, seeing in the Werewolf Weekend is The Wolves of Erin, bringing you high-stakes cabin fever.

The festival is proud to deliver a programme that pushes the limits of live performance. 'Choose-your-own' horror, The Teind asks participants to pick their own poison as they interact with characters via social media, phone, and email over the course of three weeks, before meeting one of the characters in person.

The clock strikes twelve for this year's late-night show, Midnight Horror from Chamber Piece Theatre. And What's the Bloody Question! is back for another episode in camp panel show hijinks.

The end of the festival coincides with the Mexican Dia de Los Muertos (Day of the Dead) celebrations. To mark the occasion, they will summon three productions from beyond the grave, going out with a bang on the 3rd November.

www.londonhorrorfestival.co.uk

www.oldredliontheatre.co.uk

Sunday 7th October, 7pm

Women In Horror Playwriting Competition Winner

Danse Macabre Productions in association with the London Horror Festival

£7 (£5 concession)

The LHF continues to support emerging horror theatre talent with their annual playwriting competition. This year, in celebration of the 200th Anniversary of the publication of Frankenstein by horror icon Mary Shelley, the theme is Women in Horror. Dozens of entries have been received from across the UK and the winning play will be performed as a rehearsed reading, to launch the opening night of the London Horror Festival 2018.

Sunday 7th October, 9:30pm

Fear Itself

Danse Macabre Productions

£9 (£7 concession)

Want to rid your life of fear? Then let renowned psychologist, Dr. Greenwood help. She promises there's nothing to be afraid of... A one-woman motivational talk turned sour, Fear Itself is like a cross between a TED talk and Ghost Stories. From Les Enfants Terribles Award Nominees, Danse Macabre Productions.

Monday 8th - Wednesday 10th October, 7pm

Fred Strangebone's Frankenstein ... in the bin

Theatre in the Bin

£10

Fred Strangebone has created a monster... Inspired by the greatest horror story of all time with assistance from a grotesque, buffoon and the contents of a very disturbing dustbin!

A Horror show with character comedy, clowning and delightful unpleasantness.

For Fred Strangebone's Freakshow:

???? "Comedy Genius" London Pub Theatres

???? "Character driven comedy at its best" Broadway Baby

Monday 8th October, 9:30pm

Werewolf: Live

Treehouse

£10 (£8 concession)

A brand new comedy game show fresh from Edinburgh Fringe, Werewolf: Live sees favourite comedians lie, manipulate and backstab as they try to uncover the murderous werewolves. Past guests include Marcus Brigstocke, Nish Kumar, Laura Lexx, Stevie Martin, and Alex Edelman. Expect chaos.

Tuesday 9th - Thursday 11th October, 9:30pm

The Agency

Ponydog Productions

£12.50 (£10 concession)

Welcome to a world where the Ministry of Justice has been privatised and you - the audience - become jury. You hold lives and destinies in your hands, and your votes are what determines what follows.

Like Black Mirror with a pinch of Monty Python; it's dystopian, twisted, and a great night out.

The story begins: Wednesday 10th October

Final meetings: Friday 26th - Sunday 28th October

The Teind

ONEOHONE Theatre Company

£27

The Teind is an interactive theatrical journey that offers an intensely immersive experience. A personalised horror story, just for you. This unique choose-your-own-adventure unfolds over three weeks. Remember, choices count. Ask questions. Seek clues. Prepare for your final meeting. Where will your story lead you?

Thursday 11th - Saturday 13th October, 7pm

Happily Never After

The Maydays

£10 (£8 concession)

The Maydays have been gathering an army of fans around the world with their exceptional talent for creating skin-prickling theatre from nothing; dazzling audiences with their hugely popular and deliciously dark Tim Burton inspired musical tale. Created from a single audience suggestion, The Maydays weave a playful tale, full of bone chilling black comedy and haunting songs, in this loose homage to the cult director's gothic style, layered with influences from The Brothers Grimm.

Friday 12th October, 9:30pm

Scare Slam

Blackshaw Theatre

£12 (£10 concession)

Lovers of scary stories, unite. Adding the fear factor to increasingly popular spoken word nights, storytellers from across the Horrorfest and beyond will share their worst (or should that be best?) nightmares at Blackshaw's fourth annual Scare Slam. Prepare yourself for a night of chilling tales from both sides of the line of veracity.

Saturday 13th October, 3pm & 9:30pm

Sunday 14th October, 3pm

Pickman's Model by H. P. Lovecraft

The Other Realm Theatre Company

£9.50

The Other Realm brings Lovecraft's classic short story to the stage. Pickman is an artist of extraordinary talent, but his gruesome paintings are born of a terrible secret. A dark and shocking tale that reveals the boundary between an artist's genius and insanity.

'Highly Recommended' (Fringe Review) ???? (Reviews Hub)

Sunday 14th October, 7pm

Italian Horror Stories

Grand Guignol de Milan

£10

Italian Horror Stories explores the Italian historical facts and legends that inspired gothic classics such as Dracula, Frankenstein and the Woman in Black. The show is divided into vignettes emceed by a devilish storyteller, the Prince of Darkness, who will lead the audience in an intriguing journey through ancient horrors.

Sunday 14th October, 9:30pm

Sunday 21st October, 9:30pm

April

Hermetic Arts

£10

Chaos reigns. April ("Positive Thinking guru for the YouTube generation") is here to help us take back control. Together, we can manifest something greater than ourselves. Follow her.

Previous Hermetic Arts shows: 'BADD' ????? London Pub Theatres; 'UNBURIED' ????? The Stage; "Funny, scary, deeply captivating, completely unpredictable."

????? The Spy In The Stalls

Monday 15th - Tuesday 16th October, 7pm

Crocodile

Joyous Gard

£10.50

Crocodile tells the story of Alan and Jane and their daughter Sarah, who is a crocodile. Winner of a Highly Commended Award at VAULT Festival 2017, Joe Eyre's dark, surreal, and horrifying comedy Crocodile returns this October.

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water...

Monday 15th October, 9:30pm

Who Put Bella in the Wych Elm?

Somna Theatre Company

£12.50 (£10.50 concession)

Desperately trying to piece together the warning signs surrounding his alienated son Dean, Russell Proust dives further and further into reliving the mess his son has made. Hiding in a storm drain in the Nebraskan woods, he begins to see the extent of his neglect. Too bad it's too late.

Tuesday 16th - Wednesday 17th October, 9:30pm

Saturday 27th October, 9:30pm

On Your Head Be It: A Cautionary Tale

Out Of The Forest Theatre & Over The Limit Theatre

£10
All he wanted was a quiet weekend away, but someone forgot to pack the bin bags. All happy couples have a hobby. Eleanor and Stuart's? Homicide. And when a local cabbie spoils their romantic weekend away, Eleanor knows exactly how to take her revenge.

Wednesday 17th - Thursday 18th October 2017, 7pm

Big Bad

Jodi Gray

£12

It's not easy being a werewolf in London in the 21st century...

Big Bad explores the themes of imprisonment, resistance, and sexuality within a feminist narrative in this blackly comic, supernatural horror with BITE!

Don't we all like an excuse to be bad?

Thursday 18th - Saturday 20th October, 9:30pm

Frankenstein

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