MORE… GHOST STORIES BY CANDLELIGHT Will Embark on UK Tour

HighTide has announced tour dates for More…Ghost Stories by Candlelight. Following the sell-out success of their 2023 autumn tour of Ghost Stories by Candlelight, the East of England company brings together four new stories from playwrights in their home region to deliver this brand new, chilling production.

More…Ghost Stories by Candlelight is written by Tassa Deparis, James McDermott, Eloise Pennycott, and Aisha Zia. The creative team is completed by Olivier-nominatedEmily Ling-Williams (Director), Anna Pool (Musical Director, Composer and Sound Designer), and Mona Camile (Designer). The new production is in association with Eastern Angles, Harlow Playhouse, Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds, and Shakespeare’s Globe.

Clare Slater, HighTide Artistic Director said today, “We were blown away by the popularity of last year’s tour so I’m delighted to offer audiences More…Ghost Stories by Candlelight.  A whole new production celebrating four more fantastic playwrights from the East of England.  Step into the shadowy corners of their imaginations and, this Hallowe’en, ask yourself “What am I haunted by?”   

Jake Smith, Artistic Director of Eastern Angles added, “Eastern Angles are the regional touring theatre company for the East of England and are delighted to be producing in association with HighTide, More...Ghost Stories by Candlelight, written by an exciting group of East Anglian playwrights. Our region is steeped in folklore and mystery, offering a perfect landscape for horror.  We can't wait to join HighTide and help them to access and scare audiences across East Anglia and beyond on this tour.” 

All-new for 2024, gather close for a chilling evening of contemporary tales and music from the ‘Haunted Counties’ of East Anglia.  Following the sell-out success of last year's tour, HighTide brings you four brand new stories in More…Ghost Stories by Candlelight.   

Taking inspiration from ghost stories of old, this contemporary production brings the genre right into the modern age, with settings that represent the writers’ own connections to the East of England, from urban Cambridge to the Essex salt-marsh; leafy Suffolk villages to the bracing North-Norfolk coast.

Returning to many venues from their 2023 tour, including Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds, and The Seagull Theatre in Lowestoft which saw sold-out houses. The production will also play in characterful and atmospheric non-theatrical spaces like Colchester’s Layer Marney Towers and Old Divinity Hall in Cambridge.

The tour will culminate in a spooky run of shows at the candlelit Sam Wanamaker Playhouse at Shakespeare’s Globe, London. Dates soon to be announced.

Tassa Deparis is HighTide’s associate artist for 2024. Her theatre credits include Two Under Two (Virtual Collaborators Festival), The Daughter Abroad (Theatre503), This Wall (The English Theatre, Berlin), and Mothers Milk (ArtsDepot).

James McDermott’s plays published by Samuel French include Jab (Finborough Theatre), Time and Tide (Park Theatre, East of England tour) and Rubber Ring (Pleasance Theatre, UK tour - winner of Pulse Festival’s Suitcase Prize). His other plays include Ghosted (St George’s Theatre Great Yarmouth, Out There Festival), Robin Good: The Politico-Panto (Norwich Playhouse), Senseless (Norfolk and Norwich Festival) and the relocation to East Anglia of Mark Crawford’s Canadian comedy The Birds and The Bees(New Wolsey Theatre, East of England tour). For television, his credits include EastEnders.

Eloise Pennycott makes work championing deaf and queer perspectives, working with HighTide, Deafinitely Theatre, CRIPtic Arts. Her plays include Butterflies (Deafinitely Theatre Young Company) and Barrier(s) (Dorfman Theatre, Winner of National Theatre’s New Views competition).

Aisha Zia has been commissioned by HighTide, Hampstead, Fuel, Paines Plough, Curve Leicester, Contact Manchester and is currently a Royal Literary Fund Fellow. She is a former resident artist at Somerset House Studios in London, Theatre 503’s 503Five, Associate Artist at the Foundation Jan Michalski in Switzerland. Her plays include Our Glass House (Edinburgh Festival Fringe – Winner of Special Commendation from Amnesty International) and No Guts, No Heart, No Glory (Edinburgh Festival Fringe – Winner of The Scotsman Fringe First Award, Women of the World Festival at Southbank Centre, Live from TVC Battersea Arts Centre).

Emily Ling Williams directs. Her theatre credits include A Playlist for the Revolution (Bush Theatre – Olivier Nomination for Outstanding Achievement in Affiliate Theatre), Polko (Roundabout), Wasted (Lyric Hammersmith), The Full Works (Key Workers Cycle) (Almeida Theatre), Moongate Mix (Omnibus Theatre), Behind Closed Doors (Lemon House Theatre), Tell Me When You’re Home (Young Vic), Lucky Cigarette (UK tour) and Preach (Rose Bruford Theatre, Hoxton Hall). As an assistant or associate director, her credits include House of Shades (Almeida Theatre), The Apology, The Island Nation (Arcola Theatre), Blood Wedding (Young Vic), The Meeting and The Chalk Garden (Chichester Festival Theatre).

 Tour Dates

John Mills Theatre, Ipswich

15 October

Box office: 01473 211498 / www.easternangles.co.uk

Red Lion Pub, Manningtree

16 October
Box office: 01473 459 200 / www.hightide.org.uk

Layer Marney Towers, Colchester

17 October

Box office:  01473 459 200 / www.hightide.org.uk

The Cut, Halesworth

18 October

Box office:  01473 459 200 / www.hightide.org.uk

The Seagull, Lowestoft

19 October

Box office: 0333 666 3366 / www.theseagull.co.uk

Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmonds

20 October

Box office: 01284 769505 / www.theatreroyal.org

St George’s Theatre, Great Yarmouth

22 October

Box office: 01493 331484 / www.stgeorgestheatre.com

Gressenhall Farm & Workhouse, Dereham

23 October

Box office:  01473 459 200 / www.hightide.org.uk

Dragon Hall, Norwich

24 October

Box office: 01603 877177 / www.nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk

Victoria Hall, Harlow

25 October

Box office: 01279 431945 / www.harlowplayhouse.co.uk

Old Divinity Hall, Cambridge

26 October

Box office:  01473 459 200 / www.hightide.org.uk

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