Theatrefolk Featured Play - The Shadow Stories - A Cursed Play

Welcome to our Featured Play Spotlight! The Shadow Stories - A Cursed Play by Matt Webster is a perfect script for Hallowe'en or something spooky - plus an amazing ensemble opportunity for your group!

Not all ghost stories are created equally: Some were never that scary. Some get lost in translation. Some lose their impact over time and fade into obscurity.

But what happens when a story is so timeless - so terrifying - it takes root in your brain and demands to be told?

An ill-fated storyteller is under the control of five very old, very dangerous stories from around the world: The Shadow Stories. The Shadows have a curse and a plan. Now all they need is an audience…

Competition cutting suggestions included in the script.

Why did we publish this play?
Every culture has their own stash of scary stories and that's what immediately attracted us to The Shadow Stories play. We love having a wide variety of plays for the Halloween season and this play brings unique and unfamiliar stories from around the world! And that's just for starters. There's a great ensemble component to the play, unique characters and some interesting technical challenges for your tech students. If you're looking for something different for your fall class play, look no further!

Let's hear from the author!

1. Why did you write this play?
I have wanted to write a play of ghost stories for a long time. Students love to tell ghost stories on stage, and these are some of the best ghost stories from around the world.

2. Describe the theme in one or two sentences.
The theme is “What happens when a story takes root in your brain and demands to be told?”…but with a twist.

3. What’s the most important visual for you in this play?
The most important visual is The Storyteller switching from haunted wretch to world class impresario in the blink of an eye. Almost as if they are cursed…

4. If you could give one piece of advice for those producing the play, what would it be?
The one piece of advice I would give is to try to create the world of each story as thoughtfully as possible. Use costumes, music, lights - whatever theatre magic you have available to you - in order to build unique little worlds on stage for the stories to live in. The more comprehensive the worlds, the more believable the stories.

5. Why is this play great for student performers?
This play gives students the chance to play all manner of characters - From a broken hearted lover to a vengeful spirit, from a ditzy tourist to a murderous nightmare. And the character of The Storyteller is a tour de force role.

6. Who is your favourite character in the play? OR Which character would you be in this play?
My favorite characters in the show (if I had to pick them!) would be Derrick and Loni, the tourists on their Hawaiian honeymoon in The Night Marchers. They were a lot of fun to write. At the start of their story they are carefree and clueless, but by the end they are the architects of their own demise and their lives are destroyed.

7. What is your favourite line in the play?
My favorite line of the play comes from the story The Terror of the Night Hag. I wrote this story in rhyming couplets, and there is a moment in the story where characters under attack from a supernatural force. As they are slowly being crushed, we hear their thoughts:
“Horror growing, vision fading…
Panic ever escalating!
Lungs on fire and brain beseeching...
I’m desperate for my mother's teaching!”

I love the rhythmic wordplay, as well as the feeling of terror, packed into this couplet.