RE-PURPOSING POETRY

…because of course, poetry has no actual purpose 😉

The first time I wrote a fully scripted ‘theatrical ghost walk’ for Sussex Darkside (the paranormal entertainment company I am partner in), I decided to write the entire thing in poetry. Rhyming couplets of eleven syllables per line to be precise – for all nine poems. I think I must have been mad.

Anyway, that ran for a year at the Royal Hippodrome Theatre in Eastbourne and got some lovely reviews – (you can see some of the poems on my website: (https://www.dinyfvk.co.uk/misinformed-poet/the-death-and-life/) – however, we realised that the audience wanted a more integrative experience; scares, challenges and more interaction with the actors, so I am about to recycle my existing poems and turn them into a murder mystery.

Each of the original poems tells the story of a reported ghost that haunts each part of the theatre we tour our guests around. The stories were unrelated to each other but, because I had a bigger plan in my head of eventually turning them into an actual play, I had written in-between scenes that created a loose link between the stories. Basically, each ghost haunts the theatre for a particular reason BUT, in the tour, one of the ghosts is being beastly to all of the other ghosts and while the audience travel between stories, they bump back into the ghost-characters, who complain to the audience about the ‘beastly ghost’, who of course, ends up murdered (again).

Now, I am turning this into a murder mystery game, so I need to add in some visual clues and ways for the guests to interact with the actors, whilst not spoiling the scenes.

I do love a challenge, and this particular ‘show’ will have its first outing at the end of March in an all night ‘spooky sleepover’ event we are running on behalf of a local hospice charity. I also have to write four 15 minute plays as challenges for the participants. I cannot wait to get started! In fact, I really shouldn’t wait as I only have four weeks to get it done, between finishing my creative writing book, formatting and publishing three books for clients and home-educating my middle daughter… in fact, I really should stop blogging and just get on with it, but alas, I am a hopeless procrastinator.

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