Alby Michaels Staging of Greg MacArthur's HORROR STORY to Bow at UJ's Con Cowan Theatre

HORROR STORY, which premiered earlier this year on the Student Theatre platform at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown, will make its Gauteng bow at the University of Johannesburg (UJ) this September. The production explores the numbing effects of Internet culture and graphic violence on today's youth.

Written by Greg MacArthur and directed by Alby Michaels, the play features Ebenhaezer Dibakwane and Sheraad Jacobs as as two 18-year-olds living in Port-Elizabeth. The two teenagers attend the screening of a brutally graphic horror film based on true events. Growing obsessed with the movie, they decide to make a pilgrimage to the site where the actual murders took place to uncover the truth behind the myth.

An exploration of the limits of fantasy, HORROR STORY navigates the blurry line between truth and fiction. "Creating horror on stage is a severe challenge, which the actors and I took quite seriously," says Michaels. "I believe we've created a production that will make the audience not look away ."

"Whether or not audiences are fans of the horror genre they will be familiar with thrill-inducing cues and well-worn tropes of slasher films and their television series counterparts," says producer, Grace Meadows. "Alby and the cast have done a great job with Greg's fresh, contemporary and ultimately spine-chilling script, reinvigorating and indeed reinventing the traditional language of horror for theatre and also making the play relevant for a contemporary audience," she says.

The Johannesburg run of HORROR STORY marks the final instalment of UJ Arts & Culture's bold and provocative EVOLUTION X performing arts programme for 2015. The production previews in the UJ Con Cowan Theatre on UJ's Bunting Road Campus on Tuesday, 8 September and officially opens on Wednesday, 9 September. Public performances are from 10 to 12 September. All performances commence promptly at 19:30 and the production carries a PG10 age restriction. Tickets are available from the UJ Arts Centre during business hours, online at Computicket as well as at Computicket outlets nationwide. Subject to availability, tickets may also be purchased from the Box Office of the Con Cowan Theatre an hour before shows.

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