Bad Dog, Act Four of Five: In which a problem is not so much solved as displaced; the village green is vandalised; and Percy leverages her reputation.
Programme notes
This production contains drug use, gross tentacles, and fantasy violence with some injury detail.
A Spy in the Stalls calls Lights Out, our first stage show, “thrillingly unconventional” and “absolutely worth your time”.
Our promo this episode is for Upriver, Downriver, a tarot-inspired pastoral fantasy roleplaying game about sailing a ship on a magical river. Created by Ella Watts and Max Briar in association with MacGuffin & Company, Upriver, Downriver is currently on Kickstarter.
Dramatis personae and other definitions
Persephone ‘Percy’ Byron: A Victorian monster hunter and half-sister of Ada Lovelace. Percy tried to time travel from 1852 to 1666 to stop the summoning of an apocalyptic demon, but something went wrong, and she landed in present-day Sherrydown instead.
Graham: The demon equivalent of an accountant, summoned to Earth in error and now trying to make the best of it. He is destined to bring about the Apocalypse.
Gwynned: a former shieldmaiden of the triple goddess Morrigan. For the crime of saving a mortal man from the Morrigan’s cruel whim, the goddess exiled Gwyn to live as a duck, overlooked by mortals. Recently freed from the curse, Gwyn is negotiating a new relationship with her mistress.
Jinny Greenteeth: proprietor of the Grove of Oddities, a tacky Sherrydown tourist attraction. In a past life, Jinny was branded a witch after a series of drownings in her Lancashire village.
Department of Omissions (DO, DoOm): The UK government department tasked with preventing harm to citizens from supernatural phenomena. Severely defunded under Tory austerity policies and currently prioritising major urban population centres.
Sherrydown, Brackshire: A historic English market town. One of the first towns to lose its DoOm office.
Omission effect: The rejection of certain beings and phenomena by long-term memory. Can be suppressed by concentration, mnemonic techniques, hypnosis, trauma, or the light of the full moon.
Credits
COMPERE: Matt Boothman
STARRING:
Ellie Pitkin as Persephone Byron, the Exile
Alexander Pankhurst as Graham, the Summoned
Natalie Winter as Gwynned, the Divine
Josh Yard as Jinny Greenteeth, the Spellslinger
ROLEPLAYING GAME SYSTEM: Monster of the Week, designed by Michael Sands
MUSIC BY: Alexander Pankhurst
SOUND DESIGN BY: Natalie Winter
SFX AND INCIDENTAL MUSIC INCLUDES: Soaring, Dragon and Toast, Long Note Two and Virtutes Instrumenti by Kevin MacLeod; soaring clouds by kangaroovindaloo; and may include others made available to use without attribution.
EDITED AND PRODUCED BY: Matt Boothman
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