Dead Souls- Press Release

July 4th – 8th, Theatre N16 

Press Night: July 5th 2017, 7.15pm

Featuring live video feedback and sound sculpture, Monkhead Theatre presents a non-traditional adaptation of Nikolai Gogol’s 19th century masterpiece. Be prepared to explore the world beyond the stage, as we set our characters loose on 21st century London…

“A complicated and intelligent play. Congrats!” Audience Feedback 

Dead Souls is Gogol’s unfinished epic satire of Russian society, the hilarious story of Pavel Chichikov’s twisted quest to acquire as many dead serfs as he can. Dead Souls is a darkly comic novel about the power of the Capitalist system to turn human beings into numbers and the ways in which cynical individuals exploit this, eroding their own humanity in the process. One hundred years on from the revolution, the big and scary question of Russian literature - In what kind of society do we want to live? - has never been more relevant to a Western audience.

“It’s got something very Tom Stoppard (…) with more style” Audience Feedback 

Monkhead is a minority ethnic and female-led theatre company specialising in experimental adaptations of classic literature. Chloë Myerson is a working television writer represented by The Agency, and Nico Pimparé is a working actor and director, and a member of the Young Vic Directors Programme and of the National Youth Theatre. Together they formed Monkhead Theatre in 2017, inspired by a mutual love both of the well-structured narratives and ambitious social arcs of classic literature and the wild rock & roll playfulness of experimental multimedia theatre. Monkhead adopts a holistic and ensemble-based approach to theatre-making, where the entire creative team build a world together from the collective imagination. The work in the rehearsal room is based around Lecoq, Bogart and Grotowski principles - including video, physical theatre and sound sculpture.

Dead Souls stars Toby Osmond (Thomas Cromwell in Henry VIII and His Six Wives, Channel 5), Joshua Jacob (Jeremy in Switch, Tricycle Theatre) and Jules Armana (nominated for Best Actor in the Hof Independent Fim Festival for his performance in Meier, Müller, Schmidt, Förderpreis Neues Deutsches Kino).

For tickets click on the link here and you can follow Monkhead Theatre on Twitter @MonkheadTheatre@MonkheadTheatre

Eris- Sci- Fi Comedy Web Series- NOW CROWDFUNDING

Eris is a sci-fi comedy that bends, but doesn't quite break the fourth wall. Imagine a female ‘Mad Max’ waking up in the ‘Never Ending Story’. Or perhaps, even, a series of ‘Red Dwarf’ as directed by Ridley Scott. Who will emerge victorious in this interstellar battle between love and strife?

Eccentric aliens resurrect the last human - Eris. But is she more than they can handle? British sci-fi comedy with comic book action, retro styling and a rebellious spirit! Elis is unleashed on Kickstarter today and we need to reach a target of £32,000 to develop a web series or tv show. 

KICKSTARTER LINK- https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1215118718/eris

"Eris is the perfect creative endeavour to grow from a crowd funding scenario. It is designed to be loved and nurtured by a fan base that will feel proud to have had a hand in its creation toward our eventual goal of taking over the whole world with fun action, adventure, inventive but lovable characters and fart jokes." Brad Watson- Director

Eris is a brand new sci-fi comedy series which manages to feel both beautifully familiar and refreshingly new. Created by Haydn Hades, a talented stand up comedian as well as Writer, Producer and Director. Haydn has produced the acclaimed short, The Dark Room (starring David Mitchell) and has directed many stage plays (including Harold Pinter’s ‘The Home-coming’)

Eris is brought to life by the astoundingly talented Jahannah James who, as well as being a fantastic actress is linked to her interviews with Hugh Jackman and Taron Egerton. Her comedy videos on Facebook have reached an audience of up to 80 million and she now has 360,0000 registered fans. Jahannah also co hosts a weekly radio show with Noel Clarke on Fubar Radio. The combination of Jahannah’s talent and the innovation behind Eris has already created an online buzz. The Eris mini episode, Eris and the Futile Tin of Mystery, reached 35,000 views within 24 hours of its release. 

Eris is directed by award winning Indie helmsman, Brad Watson, who has also composed and performed the projects epic synth score. Brad’s latest feature, Hallows Eve, premiered at Frightfest and was previewed a the BFI before being shown around the world. As well as being an expert with working with low budgets Brad is also a complete sci-fi obsessive which makes him the perfect to choice to deliver Eris to the world.

Creative Effects are essential to the Eris universe and they don't come much more qualified than John Schoonraad. John has worked on Return of the Jedi, Indiana Jones, Gladiator, Saving Private Ryan and Troy. He was also part of the Oscar winning creature crew for The Wolfman, working with Rick Baker.

When was the last time you really laughed with a truly funny sci-fi comedy? Time to change all that because #HereComesTrouble

https://www.facebook.com/ErisTV/                                                       https://twitter.com/Eris_Series

Amazing perks and become part of British Sci-Fi legend //www.kickstarter.com/projects/1215118718/eris/

Press Release: Audio Cascades- The Copper Cascade Chronicles by Kneel Downe

*Feed Starts...

Are they evil, or just trying to help? This question has plagued the City since Dark Deliverance, Captain Photon and the rest of The Vengeful Squad first appeared. Quickly removed from sight and now housed in Mental Rehabilitation Centre Alpha, known locally as The Copper Cascade, no word reaches the populace of their meaning or their reasoning.

Thanks to the work of investigative journalist Roach Monroe though, we have been receiving audio leaks from within the facility itself and we can now publicly release the interview tapes of Doctor Paul Nyman, the psychologist who is overseeing the treatment and further investigation of the individuals in The Squad. These tapes are not an easy listen and the information contained within will be as divisive as it is shocking. You have been warned...

*Feed Ends

Kneel Downe's take on the superhero genre is already well known and was recently collected into the chart-topping chapbook The Copper Cascade, however everyone involved realised that this was never going to be enough for the Vengeful Squad. The transcripts of Doctor Nyman’s audio interview notes from the book were just begging to be realised in their original format – as audio files. DreamCage Media Group, in conjunction with Kneel, approached renowned voice artist RJ Bayley for some thoughts on how we could accomplish this and discovered in RJ a huge fan of Kneel's work who passionately threw himself into the project. The possibility of bringing superheroes to audio is a task that not many would undertake. There's an almost cinematic reason that this genre of pop culture remains within the pages of comic books and on our screens.

Until now.

On 4th July, Audio Cascades will be unleashed upon an unsuspecting world as The Copper Cascade audiobook through Audible, Amazon and iTunes. You HAVE been warned...

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