This half term, Ormskirk will welcome BBC 6 Music Poet in Residence Murray Lachlan Young when he performs his brand new show ‘The Mystery of the Raddlesham Mumps’.

It's being performed at Ormskirk Library on Friday 25 October at 2pm. Tickets are £8 Adult / £6 Child / £18 Family of 3 / £22 Family of 4.

The Mystery of the Raddlesham Mumps is a theatrical treat perfect for lovers of Harry Potter, Tim Burton, Lemony Snicket and The Brothers Grimm.

Taking the form of a funny and wildly entertaining epic-poem,Lachlan Young uses music, inventive costume and quirky staging to tell the spell-binding story of the show’s young hero, Crispin de Quincy de Faversham Clumps.

Joining Murray on stage is Joe Allen whose credits include Mamma Mia 2, the award-winning Regents Park Little Shop of Horrors and a full two years as Mr Gloop in Charlie & The Chocolate Factory (World Premiere Theatre Royal, Drury Lane)

Like many great characters of children’s fiction, Crispin is an orphan. Following a classically dramatic case of parental death, the poor seven-year-old finds himself at a windswept double funeral.

On the bright side, he is also the sole inheritor of Raddlesham Mumps, his magnificent ancestral home. Left alone in the huge house, with only Kenilworth the ancient butler for company, events take an amusingly gothic turn.

The butler begins to regale Crispin with tales of the bizarre and often hilarious deaths of his deeply eccentric ancestors, and the story takes flight on darkly comic wings.

Lyndsey Wilson, Programmer for Spot On Lancashire said: “The show went down a storm with audiences young and old and received critical acclaim when it toured earlier this year. Mixing compelling storytelling with a brilliant musical score, by award-winning Arun Ghosh (A Big Imaginations favourite), this performance has oodles of theatricality and a shed load of silliness.”

The children’s writer and broadcaster Michael Rosen described the show as “a fearsome but funny gothic tale of dynasty, death, revenge and hope…fantastic word-play, lovely moral.”, while comedian Marcus Brigstocke said; “Just seen the beautifully staged Raddlesham Mumps with Joe Allen being utterly brilliant and the fiercely clever Murray Lachlan Young delivering in fine style.’’

The live show, an adaptation of Murray’s book of the same name, tells the cautionary tale in cleverly rhyming couplets and iambic pentameter.

A CD of The Mystery of the Raddlesham Mumps has also been released and a unique Virtual Reality and tablet based prequel is available to download for free or experience via headsets in theatre foyers as part of this tour.

The performance at Ormskirk will also be BSL signed.

Murray Lachlan Young said: 'Having found my poetic voice at Salford University I am really excited to be returning to the North West with my new family show. I can't wait to be bringing our gothic mash up of theatre, poetry and verse to families across the North West in theatres, found spaces, libraries and village halls.

"As a child I was inspired by my mum reading me cautionary tales and listening to things like Peter and the Wolf so maybe, just maybe, The Mystery of the Raddlesham Mumps will help to inspire the next generation of young writers.".

This performance forms part of Spot On Lancashire’s autumn season of touring, taking professional arts events to village halls and libraries across the county.

For more information about the show or to see the full Spot On autumn 2019 programme, visit www.spotonlancashire.co.uk, email hello@spotonlancashire.co.uk or call 01254 660360.

Tickets can be purchased by calling in to the library direct, emailing ormskirk.library@lancashire.gov.uk or booking online via the Spot On Lancashire website, www.spotonlancashire.co.uk