Horror double bill Birkenhead preview ahead of Fringe run

Playwright and performer Peter Mitchelson is set to preview two Edinburgh Fringe solo shows in Wirral this month.

Mitchelson, artistic director of the Shiny New Festival, is taking his horror comedies The Moon Pact Trial and Horror for Breakfast to the annual Fringe in August for a third year.

But ahead of that he is giving Liverpool City Region theatre audiences the chance to see the ‘semi-fictional’ shows in a double bill which involves ‘a lot of physicality and audience interaction’.

Both will be performed at Birkenhead Arts Palace in Whitford Road between July 25-27. Entry is on a free/pay what you want basis, or paid for tickets can be bought in advance.

They will then be staged at Banshee Labyrinth – dubbed ‘Scotland’s most haunted pub’ - in Edinburgh’s Niddry Street on August 3-16 and 18-25.

Mitchelson, who was part of the Everyman and Playhouse new writing development programme during lockdown, is currently studying for a PhD in horror on stage at Birmingham University.

He says: “Horror on stage is relatively rare, yet the genre is ever popular in novels, film, and games.”

Speaking about The Moon Pact Trial he adds: “This show aims to make horror accessible to a general audience while playing with meta theatre conventions.

“It’s all based on weird personal occurrences working in the frankly occult adjacent theatre scene. I only changed a few things, for legal reasons.

“Sex cults can be quite litigious, allegedly!”

The Moon Pact Trial and Horror for Breakfast will be performed at Birkenhead Arts Palace from July 25-27. Booking in advance HERE