War of the Worlds heads to Kettering

Audiences at Kettering Arts Centre on Saturday March 10 should prepare to look on in abject terror as a multi-talented cast of four use musical instruments, puppetry and, um, enthusiasm to recreate deadly heat-rays, giant fighting-machines, squidgy tentacled Martians and interplanetary warfare on an epic scale.

The chances of success? A million to one…

Adapter and co-Artistic Director of the company, Mark Hayward, explains that The Pantaloons want the show to be moving as well as amusing.

“This new adaptation is very faithful to the text,” he says, “which essentially tells the story of one man’s struggle to survive against impossible odds, driven by the hope of being reunited with his wife.

“The trick to not undermining the heart of a book, is to avoid sending up the text itself and instead focus on lampooning theatrical conventions.

“The joke should be about how hard it is to stage a full-blown alien invasion; then we can still tell a tale with pathos and all of H. G. Wells’ insight.”

Tickets cost from £10.

For more details or to book tickets visit www.ketteringartscentre.co.uk