David Radford is a local theatre actor who has written, directed, and starred in various productions, including an interactive play coming just in time for Halloween. Arkenham Abbey is a site-specific show that takes place at Craigdarroch Castle in late October. The play is a Batman-esque thriller set in post-Edwardian London, after World War One and the Spanish flu epidemic.
In order to avoid copyright issues, several characters’ names have been altered; however, the story still boasts a strong Batman theme and the bright colours and costumes of his notorious rogues’ gallery.
“We decided to do something a little bit different,” says Radford, “so we picked Batman as sort of a fun thing that people would want to come and see on Halloween. So I basically took a ton of different Batman comics, started reading them all, and put them in the Hadron Collider of my mind, shattering them all, rearranging the pieces, and building my own story out of it.”
The play was written around the setting and layout of Craigdarroch Castle and takes place in five different rooms of the building.
“The audience is travelling through the building with you, following the production, following the story from scene to scene,” says Radford. “Some things can be big and flashy and have that sort of broadsword kind of theatre feel, but in other scenes you could be in a small room where it is much more intimate, and you have that laser-surgery acting style, where all you hear in the background is a grandfather clock, and the actors are talking to you like they would when you see a film. So you have this broad range of theatrical experience and that film-like quality.”
Arkenham Abbey is a mixture of horror, thriller, and comedy, with its dark and dramatic moments broken up by moments containing light-hearted humour or pop-culture references.
“It’s one of those fine lines as a writer where you really want people to enjoy the Batman-esque business of the show, but it is a Halloween show, so you have to have those thrills,” says Radford. “Maybe somebody’s neck gets broken, maybe there’s a torture scene, maybe somebody gets stabbed to death in the next scene, but then within that there is the thrill of being inside this big pop-up comic-book of a show. There are references to earlier and more recent Batman productions throughout, so people can get a laugh from these pop-culture references, and then realize, ‘Uh-oh, something really horrible and sinister is about to happen,’ so there’s that thrill as well.”
Arkenham Abbey
Wednesday, October 19 to Monday, October 31
$28, Craigdarroch Castle
thecastle.ca