by Sarit Gafan
Some of the cast
"By the pricking of my thumbs, Something wicked this way comes."
A quote from the Shakespearean tragedy, Macbeth, fittingly prompted the title of the Purple Theatre Company's latest offering. Murder is on the cards in "Something Wicked", along with supernatural intrigue, romantic comedy and a variety of musical numbers. The Uxbridge-based group, formerly known as Brunel Alumni Drama, has staged over 20 shows, the latest of which is not the work of Shakespeare or Miller, but of two of their own, Toby Vennard and Peter Burnett.
Set in 1920's Twifestone, a fictitious English village, "Something Wicked" centres on a 300-year-old crime, which has evoked a witch's curse upon the Ruttock Family, the Lords of the village Manor. The scales have been tipped in favour of the ancient evil by an unknown source. As a result, the hero, Algernon Ruttock Junior, returns home after 16 years to find that his father has been brutally murdered. Amid a mounting body count, and aided by his childhood sweetheart Amy, and Professor Montjoy, a local Historian, Algernon must prevent himself from becoming the next victim. To say anymore would spoil the mystery.
Toby, 29, who is the company's Artistic Director, and Musical Director for the forthcoming show, has a college tutor to thank for dragging him into the Arts, kicking in a chorus line and screaming like a panto dame. With a membership base that extends all the way down to Bournemouth, it was inevitable that the Bognor-based musical sorcerer would eventually wander into Purple territory. Peter, 32, became involved, when, after leaving university as an IT Support Manager, a company member invited him to audition. In both cases, they became hooked, and now share a dream of playing while they work, and working together to turn their hobby into a career.
Having made strong links with the theatre company over the years, Peter handed them the script of his first play, 'Much Ado About Shakespeare'. The modern setting of warring burger bars combined with a script written in Shakespearean language, was a recipe for success. The play has been short-listed in the International Playwright Festival and will be performed in London later this year. In turning his pen to musicals, Peter called on Toby's creative talents and in 2003 the double act unleashed "Eighty Days - The Musical". "The story was already there, " says Toby, "and Peter built on that with his literary flair, while I had a blank musical canvas to work with." "We learned a valuable lesson in character development from our first musical," says Peter, "It really makes a play stand out. If you neglect to give your characters depth you may find yourself with a storyline that gives glorified stage directions."
With this in mind, the duo started work on "Something Wicked", initially intending to write a classic 'boy meets girl' story, they decided to put a supernatural spin on the plot by killing off one of the characters. In keeping with their own unique style, "If you can break into song when all around you hell is breaking loose" there is more to the show than meets the eye. There is a mix of dark and vibrant chorus numbers, and something that may not have been attempted yet on the amateur stage, something so cloak and dagger that even the cast was kept in suspense until recently.
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