He Had Hairy Hands

The Old Market, Upper Market Street, Hove, Tuesday, November 3

WHEN the started working on the follow up their stage adaptation of Tom Baker’s cult story The Boy Who Kicked Pigs theatre company Kill The Beast began with just a title.

“Our director [Clem Garritty] said he had it,” says writer/performer Natasha Hodgson.

“When he said He Had Hairy Hands we all looked at him and said it was a terrible idea. But it bored into our bones and mutated into part of us.”

When it came to succeeding Baker’s “ghastly wonderful comic story” about a horrible little boy plotting his revenge on the world, Kill The Beast looked to the world of b-movie horror.

“We had got a taste for blood,” says Hodgson. “We wanted to write a classic whodunit with twists and turns and gasp moments.”

For inspiration the company turned to classic Brit horror including Blood On Satan’s Claw, An American Werewolf In London and The Wicker Man, as well as the classic buddy cop movie.

Set in 1974, He Had Hairy Hands opens with a series of werewolf attacks in the town of Hemlock-Under-Lye, which decides to bring in some help.

When writing a werewolf story one important aspect is the transformation scene – and Kill The Beast were keen not to shortchange the audience.

“We love setting ourselves challenges,” says Hodgson who doesn’t want to give away any secrets. “Our first show ended with a multi-car pile-up on the motorway. We put off and put off staging that scene, as we only had four chairs in our set. It became our favourite sequence in the whole show.”

The company has retained the grotesque style of The Boy Who Kicked Pigs – in particular the heavy make-up inspired by David Roberts’ illustrations to Baker’s story.

“We had projection screens, white make-up and horrible wigs which worked really well,” says Hodgson. “We wanted to carry that through, that influence of theatrical sketch comedy and send-up.”

They retained the services of original composer Ben Osborn, who replaced his previous vintage Casiotone keyboard with a Theremin – the electronic instrument beloved of 1950s science fiction, best known for its contribution to The Beach Boys’ Good Vibrations.

“The Theremin justifies us breaking into song,” laughs Hodgson. “We wanted to create this strange, murky, non-glamorous world.”

At the same time the company aims to marry the two worlds of horror and comedy – something which when it works, as in Shaun Of The Dead, can be amazing, but as many 1980s horror-comedies prove can be woeful when it goes wrong.

“With both comedy and horror it’s about the rhythm of the piece,” says Hodgson.

“It’s about building and then releasing tension. We want to make people laugh – we don’t want to make it pure horror – although we do want to pull the rug out from under the audience occasionally.”

Kill The Beast premiered He Had Hairy Hands in 2014 at the Lowry Theatre before taking it to the Edinburgh Fringe. The production won a slew of awards, including the best studio production at the Manchester Theatre Awards, and the Peter Brook Festival Award at London’s Incoming Festival.

Now the company is working on their third production – and they’re taking inspiration from a new raft of sources, including 1980s science fiction shocker Alien, the futuristic Tron and Roman Polanski’s terrifying Rosemary’s Baby.

“The third show will be darker,” says Hodgson. “We are all fascinated by what makes us scared and the symbiosis between comedy and horror – it’s not often seen on stage.”

Starts 8pm, tickets £12/£10. Call 01273 201801.