Interview: One Man, One Tent, One Full Moon

In Conversation with Andy Sellers

There is a specific kind of magic that happens in the Old Red Lion Theatre. Above the clatter of the pub, in a room where the audience is close enough to see every bead of sweat, the atmosphere is ripe for the uncanny. This month, that intimacy is being pushed to its limit as Andy Sellers brings his darkly comic horror, Werewolf Sighted in Port Talbot, to the stage.

Sellers isn’t just the architect of this Welsh nightmare; he’s also the one trapped inside the tent. After a successful stint at GrimFest, this production arrives in London as a visceral, high-stakes look at a new relationship under pressure. But we’re not just talking about the pressure of “who forgot the tent pegs”, we’re talking about the kind of pressure that causes teeth to sharpen and fur to sprout.

At its heart, the play uses the lycanthropic legend as a sharp-edged metaphor for addiction and co-dependency, proving that the monsters we carry inside us are often far scarier than anything howling in the woods.

We sat down with Andy to discuss the exhausting reality of being his own writer and performer, the challenge of staging a “tearing itself inside out” transformation solo, and why there’s no better place than a fringe theatre to have a supernatural breakdown.

Hi Andy, so for anyone who hasn’t seen the “sighted” posters yet, can you give us the 60-second pitch for Werewolf Sighted in Port Talbot?

Absolutely! So, Werewolf Sighted In Port Talbot is about a couple, Fi and Billy, who are about to go on their first camping trip together in the Welsh countryside. However, Fi is a werewolf and it will be her first time turning with her partner. That’s the basic premise and chaos ensues from there!

The show is described as darkly comic. How do you balance the absurdity of a werewolf in a pop-up tent with the very real, grounded themes of co-dependency and addiction?

I think I tend to want to write, like you say, absurd moments of human behaviour and see where the comedy comes from. When it comes to the werewolf element I wanted to really ground it in reality and think about how someone with this ‘condition’ would have to live their life. The simple practical elements like, can you build a fire? What do you bring as snacks? Do you bring a change of clothes for after? And crucially, who could a person like that be able to be in a relationship with?

At its heart, this is a “first camping trip” story. Why was the werewolf transformation the right metaphor to explore the anxieties of a new relationship?

Honestly my brain just went to it when I was writing because I instinctively thought it was an exciting theatrical device. I also love the supernatural genre! As the play has developed I feel what has been drawn out is this idea of acceptance in a relationship and pushing that to the absolute extreme. There has come a point in their relationship where they realise they can’t ‘fix’ or ‘change’ each other, and how do they find genuine acceptance in that?

The Old Red Lion is legendary for its atmosphere (and its own ghost stories!). How does the intimacy of that space heighten the tension of a horror piece?

It’s an amazing space for horror! Even just the fact that you enter from one side of the room and the performance space traps you in, I feel makes it perfect for building tension.

This show grew out of the wonderful GrimFest. How has it evolved since its debut run, and what is it about the London horror scene that makes it such a fertile ground for new writing?

Yes we first did it at GrimFest in October and Jack Robertson (the AD of the Old Red Lion) was kind enough to ask us if we would like to do it again! It’s developed a lot since then, mainly thanks to my castmates (Lucy Havard and Jenny Wall) and our director (Adrian Greensmith). They have been so influential on the script to get it to where it is today! And in terms of London Horror scene, for me I think it’s still a really underused genre in theatre, but thanks to people like Jack it has a really vibrant life and home at the Old Red.

It’s often said that horror is the hardest genre to get right on stage because you can’t “edit in” the scares. What is your secret to building genuine dread in a live environment?

I don’t know if we ever thought about editing in scares. I think we always started from a place of, ‘let’s get the audience to care about these people’ and go from there. I don’t think it’s my secret at all, I just think the horror I like, you feel a real sense of fear for the characters. And hopefully the dread builds as the situation goes from bad to worse.

If budget were no object, what is the one “monster movie” special effect you’d love to have in the room?

We have actually talked about this a lot! We would always say ‘in the “money is no object” version of this show what would we have? And how do we get as close to that as possible?’ But I think those restrictions force you to be more creative! Having said that, I also would’ve loved to have a 8 foot tall werewolf walk in at some point. Without giving too much away, we didn’t have the budget for that, but I think the show builds to a very exciting and scary end (though maybe not in the ways you’d expect).

When you were writing the script, did you find yourself adding ‘stage directions’ that you immediately regretted once you got into the rehearsal room?

I wouldn’t regret them at all but yes for sure I got in the room and made changes straight away! I loved being in the room and cutting and shifting things in collaboration with everyone. It felt like we were all heading towards the same goal, so nothing was too precious if we didn’t feel like it helped the story.

Thanks to Andy for popping his head out of his tent for a chat. Werewolf Sighted in Port Talbot plays at Old Red Lion Playhouse until Saturday 28 February.