The House on Hallowed Ground is the latest creation by Didsbury based actor and writer Nathan Smith. After graduating from UCLAN, Nathan and a group of like-minded performers set up the company Death by Pie. With a shared love of comedy and general silliness, they decided to devote their time to making spoof plays. Their last creation, Health Under Fire, was a huge success at the Manchester Fringe and subsequently went on to star at The Edinburgh Festival.
Set in Manchester Royal Infirmary, Health Under Fire tapped into the grisly side of off-the-wall comedy, with its scary cleaners and eerie conjoined twins. The House on Hallowed Ground continues in a similar offbeat, scary manner. It skilfully uses Fifties' black and white film and elements of popular horror to include references that the audience will recognise.
The play centres on William discovering that his uncle has passed away. In order to inherit his property, he becomes embroiled in dark and sadistic adventure. As a fan of horror, Nathan is able to find plenty of scope to effortlessly parody and lampoon the genre. The play also takes inspiration from spoof films such as Airplane and Naked Gun. To push the comedy aspect further still, haunted furniture and a puppet raven are amongst the villains of the piece.
"Rodney the Raven, he's the star of the show, really" says Nathan "He's pretty demonic."
The play is wacky and laughter packed, but also has some ominous moments with plenty of shocks interspersed. He was inspired by the Carl Grose play, Dead Dog in a Suitcase (and other love songs)... "I liked the way it featured original, witty songs" says Nathan who decided to write songs to support the narrative of The House of Hallowed Ground. Not content with writing the play and the songs, he also appears as the narrator and is part of the band that provides the live soundtrack.
"It's not too heavy with the music, there are four songs in the play" he elaborates "They're folksy and daft, kind of similar to The Simpsons and Mel Brooks."
I ask Nathan how he would describe the play to the people of Salford... "It's a ridiculous Halloween spoof that will make you laugh, and jump out of your seat..."
The House on Hallowed Ground: it's scary, it's funny and it's surreal. What better way to celebrate the Halloween season?
The House on Hallowed Ground by Nathan Smith
Thursday 20th, Friday 21st and Saturday 22nd October
Kings Arms
Bloom Street £8 online/£10 on the door
To book tickets click here
Words by Ian Leslie
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