With the horrors of a cold, damp, dark and stormy January fading, we march into February prepared to face fresh monstrous horrors, in the form of the returning London Lovecraft Festival. 

Taking over the Drayton Arms Theatre in South Kensington on the 16th and 17th of February, this is the fifth outing for what has become a favourite event amongst fans of all things Lovecraft and theatre. Starburst has attended previous iterations of the festival and had a fantastic, mind-scrambling time, immersing ourselves in the entertainment on offer. 

For 2025, the Festival launches at 2pm on the afternoon of Sunday, February 16th, with the interactive ‘Painting Pickman’s Model’. Director Leo Doulton, who was an Associate Director of immersive horror piece, The Key of Dreams, will lead attendees through a process of creating art, whilst discussing what makes a monster, and, we are promised, other topics that will be of interest to the audience. Described as ‘A Life Drawing Class with a difference’, we’d expect participants to be captivated by the tale Doulton will undoubtedly weave. 

Lovecraft is renowned for his many shorter stories. At 7pm on Sunday, the multi-story ‘Night Beneath the Elder Sign’ will draw a number of these together, with suitable breaks to allow the audience’s heartbeats to settle in between the other-worldly horrors. To start will be ‘Celephais’, interpreted by T L Wiswell, and placed into a background of Gilded Age America with steampunk aesthetics, combined with blitz-era London. This builds on TL’s previous work interpreting ‘The Dreamquest of Unknown Kadath’ through shadow puppets at a previous London Lovecraft Festival. As with many works which jumps off from Lovecraft’s original stories, it may sound bizarre, but that’s ultimately the point. ‘Celephais’ is paired with ‘From Beyond’, interpreted by Kai R Hastur, returning to the Festival for the third consecutive year. Audience’s familiar with Kai’s ‘Shroud of Charon’ or ‘The Music of Eric Zann’, will know what a treat they are in for. 

To conclude the Sunday evening, at 9pm, Laurence Ashcroft will read ‘At the Mountains of Madness’. This perennial favourite of Lovecraft fans will be lavishly presented by this ‘old-hand’ Festival performer. 

To conclude the Festival on Monday 17th February, Leo Doulton will return with a second interactive work, ‘The Estate Sale of Randolph Carter’. This sounds deliciously enticing, as attendees are invited to bid “on a variety of occult artefacts found after Randolph Carter’s unfortunate departure from this plane of existence”. Think, the opening of Phantom of the Opera, but with more tentacles. This is a longer event, and somewhat experimental for the Festival, as the event takes over the entire evening. Expect weird items, cosmic horror, and an awful lot of ‘what is that?’ from the assembled participants. 

The London Lovecraft Festival is a must for fans of Lovecraft, horror, and creeping dread. We highly recommend attending – if you dare!

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The Fifth London Lovecraft Festival will be held at the Drayton Arms Theatre in South Kensington London, from February 16th-17th, 2025. Ticket prices range from £12-25.

Programme:

Sunday 16 February

2 PM: Painting Pickman’s Model

7 PM: A Night Beneath the Elder Sign (Celephais and From Beyond)

9 PM: At the Mountains of Madness

Monday 17 February

7:30 PM: The Estate Sale of Randolph Carter 

Tickets can be purchased here: https://www.thedraytonarmstheatre.co.uk/

Up to date information is here: https://www.facebook.com/londonlovecraft/

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