Podcast: Here Comes The Drought

Nina Atesh, Andrew Callaghan and Jack Flammiger on new play The Drought

For this week’s Runn Radio show we had the pleasure of Nina Atesh, Andrew Callaghan and Jack Flammiger join us. Nina is the writer of the new play from Pither Productions, The Drought, whilst Andrew and Jack play the roles of Captain and Garson.

The play won 2021’s London Horror Festival’s Playwright Competition, where it received a tabled reading. Since then it has been further developed before debuting on stage at King’s Head Theatre in September. It next plays at Old Red Lion as part of their GrimFest season.

We discuss what inspired a play set on a Victorian naval vessel, how much winning a writing competition has helped in driving the play forward, and what it is like for an actor performing in such an intense play.

You can read our recent review of the show from it’s King’s Head Theatre run here.

The Drought

Old Red Lion Theatre

1 – 4 November

A Captain and his Steward of a Victorian British Navy vessel find themselves marooned at the bottom of the sea floor after the ocean mysteriously disappears. On the edge of survival and running low on provisions, they hold out hope for rescue, clinging to their sanity by enacting out naval rituals of their seafaring past, all the while trying to block out the nameless and unknowable terrors that litter the sea floor. 

Their odd reverie is dashed however, when a stranger seeking refuge knocks on their cabin door. As these men come face to face with their deepest and darkest fears, their minds slip and madness begins to take hold. For what is a captain without his ship? And what is a ship without water?

The Drought is an atmospheric dark thriller about how purpose shapes our lives and mankind’s relationship with nature.

Tickets and more information here.