Stage adaptation of John Wyndham’s The Day of the Triffids to tour from February

John Wyndham’s classic cold war novel The Day of the Triffids is coming to the stage in a new UK tour.

Described as “a gig theatre adventure in music, sound and pictures”, Platform 4’s Triffids! brings the seminal post-apocalyptic story to life with a live soundtrack with instruments including Moog, Double Bass, Theremin, Hammered Dulcimer and, er, a Cactus.

Catherine Church has adapted the piece for the stage, with the main protagonist Bill becoming Jill as part of changes to bring the novel into the 21st century.

Platform 4 also worked with the community at Highcliffe allotments, interviewing the many people on their sites. Asking them questions about weeds, climate change and their memories of Wyndham’s book to help inspire the adaptation of the original novel.

Catherine Church said: “None of us knew how weirdly prescient this piece would be – the novel essentially asks the question – what would you do if a deadly germ invaded the world? Would you stay in your immediate community? How would it make you feel about the many things we take for granted? How would it change your priorities in life etc etc?

“All of these questions are covered in the novel – finally, finally we get to perform this live… quite a challenge with the amount of sci fi instruments on stage – from a MOOG to a Theramin to a Harmonium to a Dulcimer and loads and loads of wacky samples and 1950s B Movie inspired sounds!”

Tour dates and venues

26th February – Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry
warwickartscentre.co.uk

2nd March – Norwich Arts Centre
norwichartscentre.co.uk

4th March – North Wall, Oxford
eden-court.co.uk

5th March – Lighthouse, Poole
lighthousepoole.co.uk

7th March – Exeter Phoenix
exeterphoenix.org.uk

8th – 9th March – Theatre Royal, Winchester
theatreroyalwinchester.co.uk

10th March – The Showroom, Chichester
theshowroomchichester.co.uk

11th March – Salisbury Arts Centre
wiltshirecreative.co.uk

12th March – Cambridge Junction
junction.co.uk

16th March – Midlands Arts Centre, Birmingham
macbirmingham.co.uk

17th March – West End Centre, Hampshire
westendcentre.co.uk

18th March – Forest Arts Centre, New Milton
forest-arts.co.uk

19th March – Arts Depot, London
artsdepot.co.uk

23rd March – Colchester Arts Centre
colchesterartscentre.com