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“an unforgettable experience...”
- The Mancunion
“...drips with atmosphere...”
- Number 9 Reviews
Obscura is a North West based theatre company exploring folklore, the fantastical, and its relationship to land and local identity.
In 2022, we were shortlisted for both the Untapped Award and the Pleasance Charlie Hartill Special Reserve.
We have just launched the second chapter of our audio-walk series, soundlandscape, in collaboration with Ilkley Literature Festival and The Brontë Parsonage Museum. Click HERE for Haworth and HERE for Ilkley to listen. We are also developing A Shanty for an Atomic Town, a new musical fusing sea shanties, maritime myth, and nuclear power.
“a unique concoction of the uncanny...”
- Creative Tourist
Obscura Theatre is writer, composer and sound designer Patch Middleton, and director and producer Emily Oulton.
A SHANTy for an Atomic Town
IN DEVELOPMENT
Written by Patch Middleton
Directed by Emily Oulton
Runner-up for the 2022 Pleasance Charlie Hartill Special Reserve and shortlisted for the 2022 New Diorama Theatre Untapped Award
Supported by Theatre by the Lake
A new actor-musician folk-horror musical exploring a Cumbrian seaside town’s relationship to nuclear power, superstition and the ocean. With a score intersecting traditional shanties and electronic soundscapes, community foundations are shaken when a living girl is found inside a dead beached whale.
want to work with us, commission us or support our work?
As part of our SOUNDLANDSCAPE series, we make tailor-made audio theatre experiences for theatres, museums and festivals. Guided by in-depth research, we create original stories, new music and soundscapes and record with professional actors. Get in touch if you would like to commission the next one!
Our other services include bespoke soundscapes, original audio scripts, producing and programming storytelling events. We are also freelance theatre makers. You can check out our individual pages here:
soundlandscape
THE WILD HAUNTINGS ON THE MOOR
Written by Patch Middleton
Directed by Beth Knight
Produced by Emily Oulton
Performed by Riana Duce & Olivia Sweeney
Commissioned by Ilkley Literature Festival and the Brontë Parsonage Museum
Haworth 1823. Ilkley 1973. Two souls are lost together, for a time. Accompanied by their voices through your headphones, walk with them through the veil as they search for answers of what’s out there, but find that something much more unexpected is following close behind. A two-part audio experience on Haworth & Ilkley Moors.
FelL
Written by Patch Middleton
Directed by Alex Hurst
Designed by Bartholomew Gwyn
Sound Design by Patch Middleton
Produced by Elis Shotton
Something menacing is lurking in the midst of the mountainous Cumbrian landscape. Rumour has it that an ancient force occupies the wild and rugged hills, knowledge of which is only whispered about in the busy local taverns. A missing youngster, a police officer’s commitment and a dark mystery all set the scene for strange happenings in this creepy Lake District tale. Performed at Antwerp Mansion in Manchester, 2018.
Something menacing is lurking in the midst of the mountainous Cumbrian landscape. Rumour has it that an ancient force occupies the wild and rugged hills, knowledge of which is only whispered about in the busy local taverns. A missing youngster, a police officer’s commitment and a dark mystery all set the scene for strange happenings in this creepy Lake District tale. Performed at Antwerp Mansion in Manchester, 2018.
soundlandscape
All the Boggles of Derwentwater
Written by Patch Middleton
Directed by Emily Oulton
Performed by Julie Edwards & Sophie Simpson
Supported by Arts Council England and Theatre by the Lake
Come for a walk down an old lane by a lake you think you know so well. But on this day, at this most unearthly time of year, there are strange spectacles afoot. Through your headphones, accompany a lone wanderer as you take a stroll by Derwentwater, where centuries of stories are lurking just beneath the surface, waiting to be exhumed.
By Candlelight
Written by various authors
Performed at various venues
Events previously supported by Arts Council England and programmed by Theatre by the Lake, the Brontë Parsonage Museum and Ilkley Literature Festival.
Storytelling evenings curated by Obscura Theatre. Authors, poets, playwrights and storytellers of fantastical, macabre and spooky tales gather by candlelight to showcase their latest work.
A new actor-musician folk-horror musical exploring a Cumbrian seaside town’s relationship to nuclear power, superstition and the ocean. With a score intersecting traditional shanties and electronic soundscapes, community foundations are shaken when a living girl is found inside a dead beached whale.
Come for a walk down an old lane by a lake you think you know so well. But on this day, at this most unearthly time of year, there are strange spectacles afoot. Through your headphones, accompany a lone wanderer as you take a stroll by Derwentwater, where centuries of stories are lurking just beneath the surface, waiting to be exhumed.
Haworth 1823. Ilkley 1973. Two souls are lost together, for a time. Accompanied by their voices through your headphones, walk with them through the veil as they search for answers of what’s out there, but find that something much more unexpected is following close behind. A two-part audio experience on Haworth & Ilkley Moors.
PATCH
EMILY
Something menacing is lurking in the midst of the mountainous Cumbrian landscape. Rumour has it that an ancient force occupies the wild and rugged hills, knowledge of which is only whispered about in the busy local taverns. A missing youngster, a police officer’s commitment and a dark mystery all set the scene for strange happenings in this creepy Lake District tale. Performed at Antwerp Mansion in Manchester, 2018.