It’s a party invite with a twist

Eastern Angles return to Peterborough’s Key Theatre Studio with a madcap spoof on the well-known panto genre.

The Fenland Screamers & Other Boggy Tales, from the makers of Stoat Hall and The Mystery of St. Finnigan’s Elbow, is a New Year’s Eve party with a difference...

It is the 30th December, 1930. Young amateur sleuth siblings Sloppy & Sixpence arrive at a remote house in the middle of Clinker Fen, invited by a distant relative to celebrate the New Year. Tempted by the idea of a grand weekend party, they find the place deserted apart from the creepy butler, Tangent. He is expecting them and despite their misgivings, they decide to stay. Other guests arrive, all strangers to one another, and as the fog descends, cutting them off from the outside world, they pass the time by telling stories. It becomes apparent that they all have a guilty secret, and are unnerved when Tangent tells them the local legend of the Fenland Screamers, avenging spirits who emerge from the bogs to drag the guilty back down into the mire.

When one of the guests mysteriously disappears, and they all begin to fear for their lives. Can Sloppy & Sixpence solve the mystery before the Screamers come again and take them all, one by one?

The cast of five include Joe Leat (The Mystery of St Finnigan’s Elbow, Everything Must Go!) and Geri Allen (Stoat Hall). Joining them will be Eloise Kay and Anthony Pinnick who recently starred in The Mariner with Common Ground Theatre Company. James Macnaughton also joins the cast after recently performing with the Royal Shakespeare Company in Romeo & Juliet and BBC’s The Hollow Crown.

From the sublime to the ridiculous, you can expect a quirky quick paced farce punctuated with original catchy songs. Suitable for kids both sides of 40!

This eccentric festive musical comedy comes to Peterborough’s Key Theatre Studio from January 22-26. Tickets are available from the Key box office on 01733 207239 or online at www. vivacity.org