Knightmare: Live

 

How did you both get into Kightmare as kids? Did you go on the show?
J: No I didn’t, I wish. Paul I think you were a bit more of an open fan than me. I’d watch it every episode but would only admit it to my friends. I was kind a of secret nerd.
P: I watched it every Friday when it was on ITV. It was actually one of the only shows on ITV that we were allowed to watch. I’d often have to go to someone else’s house after school because I was working and they were very strict about us watching the BBC, the ‘good stuff’.

So was it a dream come true when you finally put on the Helmet of Justice?
P: I never went on the show, but also I never really get to wear it now. I mean I’ve tried it on, sure.
J: We all wear it over dinner. Though that does mean we have to eat most of our dinners with a straw. Buffets are a nightmare.

Can you give us a potted history of how it came to the stage?
P: Basically, we were having a pub conversation about what would make a good Edinburgh show, we were going through kids TV shows and movies we used to watch and Knightmare was the one that had potential. We could envisage it on the stage. Then it was just a case of e-mailing Tim Child who invented Knightmare. He wrote back a very cryptic e-mail saying, ‘you’ve reached level one’, which was incredibly enticing. He was very generous he gave us the rights for a couple of years and once we’d got the rights, we kind of went, ‘oh, we have to make it now’. And before we knew it we were running a Kickstarter and it just had to happen.

Wasn’t it also something to do with you growing out your beard, Paul?
P: Well, I am a fan of not shaving, so this has been a real treat.

How is it living up to the legend of the dungeon master, Treguard?
P: I think I’m getting away with it at the moment, as much as anyone can hope for I think. No one’s come up to me and given me negative feedback so that’s good.

Have you met Hugo Myatt, the original actor?
P: Yeah a couple of times, he’s coming down to see it and he was there for all of our early meetings, which was nice. It’s weird to meet one of your childhood heroes, but I found out he was a really nice guy.

Can you outline what happens during Knightmare Live?
J: It’s very interactive.
P: Pretty much the same as the TV show, but everything’s live so we use puppets and doorways and such. I think for the audience it’s kind of cathartic because they all remember screaming at the TV and they do very much the same thing here, but it’s live. And they get to try on the hat afterwards.
J: There’s always something to do to conquer the room, much like the TV show but with it being live, it’s not always completely predictable.

What is the enduring appeal of Knightmare?
P: I think literally they just don’t make shows like that anymore. It wasn’t patronising, if you made a mistake you died and that was it, you were off.
J: It was pretty dark actually. I think that’s part of it. I think for very young kids there’s some wonderful, surreal clever shows like Into The Night Garden where they’ve really looked at the psychology of babies but really for older kids everything’s relatively sanitised now. Knightmare was genuinely scary. It was all just part of an era that was a bit more dystopian. I mean, Mary Whitehouse complained - and if that happened in the eighties then everyone went ‘oh, that’s really cool then’.

Is Knightmare Live more aimed at nostalgic adults?
J: It’s totally acceptable both for people who have never seen it but are of a similar sentiment who would like a similar thing now like Dr. Who or Game of Thrones and also it’s just about family friendly…I don’t think we’ve scarred anyone.

Did you go to the Knightmare convention earlier this year?
P: We did, though we only got to go on the Friday unfortunately. It was great fun though, to see Knightmare having a bit of a resurgence. There’s a community of people who want to see it back on TV, which will be amazing.

Has Knightmare been received well in the Knightmare community?
J: Yeah, we think so. I mean fans have turned up to our show and quite often they come to our standup gigs too, which is great. It’s a really lovely, supportive and lovely nerd community, is Knightmare.

Have you gone in for a lot of special effects?
P: We started off using videos and similar but it just didn’t have the same impact and when we’re doing things live, the melting face, we have that, but that’s pretty much the only thing. We don’t want to brag, but we do have some pretty impressive puppets.
J: And there’s plenty of dry ice.

Who did you think was the scariest character in the TV show, and is that still the same now?
J: Lord Fear, wasn’t it?
P: Well, he was quite funny. I was terrified of the big spider.

How about Lillith? She had the terrifying laugh!
J: Yeah, she did! I thought the falling away floor was the scariest thing in the original, which obviously is the only thing really that’s pretty much impossible to do in a live show. Although you can push people off the stage.
P: Though that does get frowned upon in theatrical circles.

What two things would you have in your knapsack?
J: Well, the knapsack is technically just for food. It’s your Knightmare tummy. So if it’s which two bits of food would I take, I’d probably take a couple of kievs. If it was quest items, I reckon I’d go for something with magical potential, like a finger puppet, and something seemingly simple, like a bit of chalk. Simple, but versatile.
P: Well, we’ve been taking objects from members of the audience; we’re trying to find the weirdest thing on their person.
J: We never want to see an umbrella again! We’ve had everything from a racist badge to some quite kinky PVC personal wear. It was a sex leash.
P: No it wasn’t, it was PVC braces for trousers but everyone just went ‘oh, a sex leash’.
J: Can you just make a note that it was Paul who mentioned what it was.

So would you want people of Nottingham to bring some items with them?
J: Yeah! Just bring something random. It doesn’t have to be anything funny, just bring some knick knacks.

Finally, can you answer my Knightmarish riddle? What gets wetter and wetter the more it dries?
P (straightaway): A towel. Sorry, I’ve just been spending a lot of time looking them up.

Damnit!!!
J: It would have taken me hours! Paul just knows the answer to anything.
P: Maybe the people of Nottingham can bring a riddle, too.

Knightmare Live is at The Nottingham Arts Theatre, Friday 26 September at 7.30pm. 

Knightmare Live website