At the Mountains of Madness

International Tour Jan 2016 - Dec 2017 World Premiere in Association with South Hill Park Arts Centre World Premiere From the novel by HP Lovecraft Starring Tim Hardy Adapted by Max Lewendel & Tim Hardy Icarus Theatre Collective brings you Tim Hardy in the first theatre adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft’s chilling masterpiece “At the Mountains of Madness.” Trailer above best viewed with headphones and on Youtube Donate £15 or more and receive a CD of the Radio Play free: or buy a private download link for £10 from Bandcamp. TV Bomb Ijo Pona

Tour Schedule Reviews Workshops and Masterclasses About this Play Sound Bites For Venues: Marketing Info Photo Gallery Audience Reviews For Venues: Tour Booking

Audience Feedback

All opening night audience feedback:

A most engaging and entertaining performance, with a remarkable emotional range displayed. Bravo

Fabulous gripping one man show with brilliant sound and light effects.

A very engrossing one man play, on one of H P Lovecrafts short stories. It was gripping from the start, with interaction via the radio, lighting and mist left you in the middle of the story.

Quite different but very well presented. Tim Hardy brilliant. Also sound and lighting Minimal props but great effect

Tim Hardy's performance and the sound were excellent. Once I managed to suspend disbelief about Antarctica "not being like that", the play was riveting. H P Lovecraft's novella was written in the 1930s, so it's possible that eighty years ago the audience was have been more receptive to the now rather incredible plot. It seemed to be a mash-up of an early Dr Who, Lost - and, for me, the Elgin Marbles, as the numerous references to sculptures kept bringing these to mind!

A harrowing tale of fantastical wonders and creeping madness, based on the tales of H.P. Lovecraft. The main actor did a fantastic job orating the story, pulling you into the frozen worlds of the Antarctic and using only his words to describe incredible sights no stage scenery or imagery could ever hope to reproduce better than your own imagination. Tension was built well by well timed use of sound effects and lighting, however the critical moments involved a crescendo of sound so loud it was difficult to hear what was happening, and when we are reliant purely on the description of the narrator I found this took away some of the tension. The set was minimalistic but what was there was used to great effect. The final moment (final word) of the show required some further reading for me as it wasn't clear what relationship this word had with the rest of the piece, however some googling confirmed my suspicions and also got me reading more about H. P. Lovecraft so no complaints there!

Excellent performance by solo actor. Lighting and sound produced desired effect/mood. Very glad I attended but subject matter not entirely to my liking - my problem and doesn't reflect on the performance or the event.

Atmospheric, chilling drama. Superb acting. Really enjoyed discussion with team after the play.

A great story of a doomed expedition to the Antarctic in the 1930's. A superb performance from the lead and only actor who built the atmosphere of impending disaster very well.

Terrific acting and a wonderful use of lighting and sound created an atmospheric production very much in keeping with Lovecraft's original work.

Compelling story-telling with images that stay with you for long after

Very well done but not punchy enough for me.

Amazing performance by Tim Hardy, but we prefer more of a plot

Very good. Electronic recording uses was muffled, and I had some trouble hearing it.

Venue Feedback

‘At The Mountains Of Madness’ was both fascinating and extremely gripping with a superb performance from Tim, I loved it and so did the audience. Well done and thank you! Superbly delivered by the whole team. The audience (and myself) were completely gripped throughout. Well done! I wish you the very best with it at future venues.
-Brian Kirk, Yvonne Arnaud Theatre


The show was marvellous! The audience loved it.
-Old Courthouse Theatre


Best show ever here!
-Atlantic Arts Centre

Other Audience Feedback

An amazing performance, as a pragmatic realist any 'science fiction' or similar theme is traditionally uncomfortable. Arriving with a deliberately 'open mind' I was comprehensively transported to a conceptual possibility that became a temporary reality. Total excellence!
-Anonymous, 24th February, Queen's Hall, Hexham

My husband attended the stage adaptation of At The Mountains of Madness last night at the Byre Theatre and said it was excellent. The acting, lighting and sound stage were very professional and the translation from book to stage a delight. Highly recommended and, hopefully, not the last Lovecraft adaptation they produce!
-Cheryl McKenzie

I was fortunate enough to see you perform the one man show of At The Mountains of Madness in Chesterfield last night. I'm afraid that I'm one of those long-term fans of H. P. Lovecraft, in my case first reading his works when I was at school, and still reading them now. I even visited his grave a couple of years ago. I confess I had low expectations of the show as I thought it was a particularly 'dense' story to adapt (a sentiment echoed by my friend Angela in the Q&A, coincidentally). I was very happy to be proved wrong, with a wonderfully paced and perfectly delivered narrative, building steadily towards a suitably nerve-jangling climax. I would love to think The Old Man of Providence would have approved of it.
Many thanks for the highly enjoyable evening.
-Mike Jarvis

Really atmospheric and the whole of the audience were transfixed by the story being told. The production was truly amazing and we all enjoyed it very much. It was mesmerising
-John Macmenemey

May I just say that I thought 'At The Mountains Of Madness' was superb: Tim's performance reminded me of Andrew Keir playing a traumatised Quatermass, and the gradual build up of tension and terror of the original book was brilliantly realised. I read the story over thirty years ago originally, but I re-read it in a tent out on the ice on a climbing expedition to Greenland: the lighting effects and Tim's evocation of the Antarctic made me feel magically chilled and the stage literally became an ice-sheet, one of the best stage effects I've ever seen. The use of the radio for dialogue was inspired. I have the HPLHS audio version of the story, which is good but your approach was far more effective, I think. Anyway, it was a fantastic adaptation and all involved are to be congratulated :-)
-Darren Partridge

"At the Mountains of Madness" at the Sarah Throne yesterday. Gripping, spellbinding and very, very chilling. A great adaptation the wrought Lovecraft's sometimes overflorid prose into a sharper narrative. Atmospheric lighting and sounds, and absorbing, engaging acting. Bravo!
-Mike Dellor

Just writing to say I throughly enjoyed last night's presentation.
Atmospheric, multi-layered and gripping.
Thank you very much.
-Mark McKeown, Hyperstation

Pete Cardinal Cox 28 Apr ·
Very much enjoyed last night's performance of At The Mountains of Madness, even the weather was trying to get us in the mood with the hail. Now looking forward to listening to the CD version...

Christian Liberman reviewed Icarus Theatre Collective
March 19 at 7:41pm ·
Awesome portrayal of H.P. Lovecraft's 'At the Mountains of Madness'.
So enjoyable in fact I've seen it twice (at Guildford's 'Yvonne-Arnaud' theatre and Clapham's 'Omnibus' theatre), and no doubt will be seeing it again if the tour continues for some time smile emoticon
Thank you Tim and Max - I spoke briefly with you both at Omnibus, but once again thank you smile emoticon Thanks also to Theo (whom I saw in the Rehersal Interview youtube video) for having the initial idea to bring this story to the stage, and thanks to all else involved. It really was a wonderful production of a story I love and that has been very influential for me.
Today I also listened to the CD version I purchased at Omnibus, and it's very pleasing that I can relive this adaptation at any time

Cheryl McKenzie reviewed Icarus Theatre Collective
March 13 ·
My husband attended the stage adaptation of At The Mountains of Madness last night at the Byre Theatre and said it was excellent. The acting, lighting and sound stage were very professional and the translation from book to stage a delight. Highly recommended and, hopefully, not the last Lovecraft adaptation they produce!

Chris Halliday‎ to Icarus Theatre Collective
May 14 at 11:33pm · Bristol ·
Saw At The Mountains Of Madness in Chippenham on Friday and was utterly blown away. An amazing performance and a seriously impressive staging. Why this show isn't being staged in Bristol - where it would have been packed out - is beyond me. I'm thrilled to have caught this fantastic adaptation!

Laurynas Zubrickas I loved the performance and the production of the play, kept me trying to piece the story together until the very end.

Adrian Knight Excellent performance. Well done to all involved smile emoticon

Adrian Magowan Just in from the show, top class performance.

John Nicholson‎ We saw At The Mountains of Madness on Saturday in St Andrews. The show was excellent we loved the way that the story was told.

Dave Nicholson Really enjoyed this tonight. Great acting, sound and lighting. Very well done.

John Breakwell Great show tonight. Really enjoyable and evocative.

Steve Switzer Saw this at enfield ... really enjoyed it a great interpretation of lovecrafts classic

Stephen J. Clark 24 Feb Thoroughly enjoyed 'At the Mountains of Madness' in Hexham tonight. Very inventive; adding texture to a great performance. Really brought the story to life again

Twitter Feedback