Shadows and Gestures: Scripts after M R James
In December 2005, Robert Lloyd Parry performed two ghost stories by M R James (1862–1936) in the Founder’s Library of The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge. Nearly 20 years later, what had been envisaged as a one-off event, has ballooned into “The M R James Project” – a celebration of the author’s life and work that has (so far) produced three documentaries, two short story anthologies, a guided walk, numerous magazine and newspaper articles, and seven stage shows. “Shadows and Gestures” collects the scripts for these shows; adaptations of fourteen of the best ghost stories ever written, for solo peformance.
“The perfect mix of humour, warmth, apprehension and profound unease.” – The Sunday Times
Paperback, 258pp.
Contents:
• Introduction (preview included)
• Canon Alberic’s Scrap-book
• The Mezzotint
• The Ash Tree
• Oh, Whistle and I’ll Come To You, My Lad
• Lost Hearts
• A Warning to the Curious
• Number 13
• Count Magnus
• Casting the Runes
• The Residence at Whitminster
• A View from a Hill
• The Treasure of Abbot Thomas
• The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral
• An Episode of Cathedral History
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Shadows and Gestures eBook
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The Witches of M R James
“It will be long, I think, before we arrive at any just estimate of the amount of solid reason—if there was any—which lay at the root of the universal fear of witches in old times…”
M R James was fascinated by the history and folklore of witches, and in Mrs Mothersole, the shape-shifting wise woman of Castringham, he created one of his most intriguing and terrifying characters. This DVD presents tellings of his two stories that deal most directly with witchcraft – The Ash Tree and The Fenstanton Witch – and a new documentary that delves into the writer’s childhood to suggest a possible inspiration behind his interest.
Contents:
‘The Ash Tree’ — a candlelit performance
‘The Shrew Ash’ — a new documentary - watch here free
‘The Fenstanton Witch’ — a reading on location
Malcolm Gaskill, historian of witchcraft — an interview
PLEASE NOTE: To save on plastic and postage this will come packaged not in a traditional DVD case, but enclosed in a specially designed ‘greetings’ card.
Currently out of stock - to register you interest please email roblloydparry@hotmail.com
Ghosts of the Chit-Chat DVD
M R James read his earliest ghost stories aloud to fellow members of The Chit-Chat, a Cambridge University society that met every Saturday during term time to drink punch, take snuff and listen to papers on ‘any subject that might provoke interesting conversation.’ This DVD includes performances of James’s two earliest tales as well as works by other members of the Chit-Chat, and is a tie in with the anthology published by Swan River Press.
Contents: ‘Canon Alberic’s Scrap-book’ and ‘Lost Hearts’ by M R James.
Bonus Features:
‘An Introduction to the Chit-Chat’; ‘Basil Netherby’ by A C Benson; ‘The Dean’s Story’ by Robert Carr Bosanquet; ‘Useless Knowledge’ by M R James.
PLEASE NOTE: To save on plastic and postage this will come packaged not in a traditional DVD case, but enclosed in a specially designed ‘greetings’ card.
Currently out of stock - to register you interest please email roblloydparry@hotmail.com
A Thin Ghost Centenary DVD
“How big are they, these saw-flies?”
Originally released in 2019 to mark the 100th Anniversary of the publication of M R James’s third collection, A Thin Ghost and Others, this DVD bring together a full blooded performance of Robert Lloyd Parry’s adaptation of ‘The Residence at Whitminster’ with rehearsed reading of the other stories from the book: ‘The Diary of Mr Poynter.’ ‘An Episode of Cathedral History,’ ‘The Story of a Disappearance and an Appearance,’ and ‘Two Doctors.’
PLEASE NOTE: To save on plastic and postage this will come packaged not in a traditional DVD case, but enclosed in a specially designed ‘greetings’ card.
Currently out of stock - to register you interest please email roblloydparry@hotmail.com
A Warning to the Curious on DVD
“Sometimes, you see him, and sometimes you don't. It’s just as he pleases, I think: he's there, but he has some power over your eyes...”
On the coast of Suffolk, a young archaeologist is haunted and hunted by the guardian of an ancient treasure.
‘A Warning to the Curious’ is arguably M R James’s last great ghost story. Published in 1925, it draws on the author’s own experience of holidaying in Aldeburgh, and seems at the same to time to be a response to the traumas of the first World War. Robert Lloyd Parry here performs the story in a single take, by the light of a single candle, and in an accompanying documentary looks at the cultural and historical influences on the tale. Clips are viewable here.
The English seaside has never looked so menacing.
Bonus Features:
’Dim Presences.’ A 1hr documentary looking at the cultural and historical influences behind James’s masterpiece. (Also available as a digital download here.)
A reading of M R James’s July 1916 speech to The Cambridge Tipperary Club.
Songs by Patricia Hammond.
Currently out of stock - to register you interest please email roblloydparry@hotmail.com
Oh, Whistle... on DVD
“… The sound he produced had a quality of infinite distance to it, and, soft as it was, he felt certain that it must somehow be audible for miles around...”
A windswept golfing holiday on the Suffolk coast takes on a nightmarish shape when Professor Parkins blows on a long-buried whistle.
‘Oh, Whistle, and I’ll Come to You, My Lad’ is considered by many to be M R James’s finest ghost story. Probably first read to the author’s friends in Cambridge at Christmas 1903, it has now been brought back to thrilling life in this new collaboration between Nunkie and ThomThom Productions. Filmed in one take, by the light of a single candle, at Hemingford Grey Manor, this is supernatural storytelling at its most stark and effective. Clips viewable here.
PLEASE NOTE: To save on plastic and postage this will come packaged not in a traditional DVD case, but enclosed in a specially designed ‘greetings’ card.
Bonus Features:
‘Wits in Felixstowe.’ A 40 minute documentary. (Available as a digital download here.)
A rehearsed reading of M R James’s short story ‘Rats.’
Patricia Hammond performing Robert Burns’s ‘Whistle an’ I’ll Come to Ye, Me Lad.’
Currently out of stock - to register you interest please email roblloydparry@hotmail.com
Casting the Runes on DVD
“… He put his hand into the well-known nook beneath the pillow. It did not get so far. What he touched then was, according to his account, a mouth. With teeth. And with hair about it. And not, he declares, the mouth of a human being…”
Meet Mr Karswell, ‘The Abbot of Lufford’ – magic lanternist, historian of the occult, and scourge of the academic establishment. ‘Casting the Runes’ is one of M R James’s most admired tales. Now it has been brought to thrilling life in this new collaboration between Nunkie and ThomThom Films. Filmed in one take by the light of a single candle, this is storytelling at its most stark and effective. Clips viewable here.
PLEASE NOTE: To save on plastic and postage this will come packaged not in a traditional DVD case, but enclosed in a specially designed ‘greetings’ card.
Bonus feature:
A rehearsed reading by Robert Lloyd Parry of ‘A Vignette,’ M R James's final, posthumously published piece of supernatural writing.
Currently out of stock - to register you interest please email roblloydparry@hotmail.com
New Nunkie T-shirts
Whether you’re refeshing yourself at the 19th hole in Burnstow, or jogging down the Seaburgh promenade, you want to look your best.
Now you can, in a Nunkie T-shirt.
Eight different designs. A variety of colours and sizes.
TWO STRANGE TALES BY LUCY M BOSTON
‘...His eye sockets were appallingly hollow, and he lifted his chin as the blind do when they seek...’
Robert Lloyd Parry reads two little known supernatural tales by Lucy M Boston [1892 – 1990], the author most famous for her acclaimed series of Green Knowe children's novels. The Tiger-Skin Rug is a mysterious tale, describing what happens when the spirit of the jungle visits a quiet English village . . . In Curfew the tolling of a long-silent bell awakens a shocking, ancient evil. It has been hailed as one of the most chilling tales in the M R James tradition.
Contents available to download on Bandcamp
CURIOUS CREATURES:
THE SHORTER HORROR OF M R JAMES
‘Are there here and there sequestered places which some curious creatures still frequent...?’
James asked this question at the end of the last ghost story he ever wrote – A Vignette, published in a London newspaper, five months after his death. This is one of nine shorter works included on this pleasingly terrifying new audio CD, two of which have never been recorded before.
Contents available to download on Bandcamp