Catch a play in Chesterfield so terrifying that it gave the original sound designer nightmares

An award-winning play, which has been likened to a new The Woman in Black, will tour to Chesterfield.
The Haunting of Blaine Manor at Chesterfield Pomegranate Theatre on February 25, 2022.The Haunting of Blaine Manor at Chesterfield Pomegranate Theatre on February 25, 2022.
The Haunting of Blaine Manor at Chesterfield Pomegranate Theatre on February 25, 2022.

The Haunting of Blaine Manor is written and directed by Joe O’Byrne and will be performed at the Pomegranate Theatre on February 25, 2022.

A renowned American parapsychologist, who is famous for discrediting hauntings and exposing fake mediums, is invited to the most haunted building in England in 1953. But his arrival has awakened something horrific within the spooky building’s walls and as a raging storm closes off the manor from the outside world, the visitor find that what is waiting there is not nearly as horrific as what has entered with him.

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Be warned – the story is so scary that the original sound designer left because of nightmares around the script!

The Haunting of Blaine Manor won the Salford Star best play of 2017 award and features a firecracker of a cast comprising Peter Slater, Jo Haydock, Phil Dennison, Andrew Yates, Ed Barry and Joe O’Byrne.

Playwright, director and actor Joe, who is predominantly known for his series of plays and films, Tales from Paradise Heights, said: “I’ve always wanted to do a haunted house story...not a ghost story though, I wanted it to be a period piece, something that would fit the world of M R James, H P Lovecraft or Edgar Allan Poe. At the same time tipping the hat to the Hammer Horror classics that I watched in my youth, and how many of those classics tapped into England’s cultural history of haunted castles, demons and witchcraft?

"In tandem with this I also wanted to create something that was a throwback to the Hollywood golden age, where glamour mixed with danger like bourbon poured over rocks, a time when you would see the likes of Peter Cushing, Vincent Price, Peter Lorre, Boris Karloff, Bette Davis, Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall and Virgina Mayo strutting their stuff, all class and dynamic patter. I think they’d all feel at home in Blaine Manor.

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"Come and join us for a night of terror you’ll never forget.”

The Haunting of Blaine Manor starts at 7.30pm. Tickets £18. Go to www.chesterfieldtheatres.co.uk