The M R James Project
In December 2005 Nunkie performed ‘A Pleasing Terror,’ two tales by Montague Rhodes James (1862 – 1936), the master of the English ghost story. The venue was James’s old office in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, a wonderfully elegant and atmospheric old book-lined room. This was the beginning of what has since become known as ‘The M.R. James Project,’ an initiative to bring back to life the eeriest and most entertaining of these enduringly brilliant tales.
Many of James’s stories were originally written to be performed to his friends at the Christmas Eve parties he hosted in his rooms in King’s College, Cambridge, in the years leading up to World War One. And Nunkie now has a repertoire of five one man-shows based upon them.
The stories are all performed by candlelight, often in places closely associated with the author, by Robert Lloyd Parry, whose resemblance to James has left many an audience member dumbfounded. In 2014 he appeared as M R James in Mark Gatiss’s BBC2 Documentary ‘Ghost writer.’ You can see clips here.
For live performances check out the touring schedule.
For more information on M R James, click here.
For details of individual shows, keep scrolling…
Illustrations by Paul Lowe.