The Triffids are coming in a new stage production (and audio drama) as Platform 4’s show tours the UK.

Humanity beware, there’s a new outbreak of monstrous vegetation throughout the country! A new production which adapts John Wyndham’s classic novel The Day of the Triffids into an immersive stage show has arrived.

Triffids! features a live soundtrack as it takes the listener deep into the story – it’s a gig theatre adventure in music, sound and pictures. The show utilises a variety of instruments including Moog, Double Bass, Theremin, Hammered Dulcimer and… a Cactus!

Here’s the trailer:

Indie arts company Platform 4 create playful and unexpected worlds in which performers and participants can explore their creativity and the things that matter to them. Their work is highly visual and musical; it connects people and puts human relationships at the heart of the event.

In adapting the original story, Platform 4 have added some modern twists; they’ve removed some of the outdated material and interweaved beautiful elegiac violin solos and melancholic wistful melodies inspired by a lost world to wacky, psychedelic 1990s acid house. It certainly sounds like a radical take on the material.

The tour, which began in February, visits Norwich, Birmingham, Oxford, Chichester, London, Winchester, Coventry, Salisbury, Aldershot, Exeter, Colchester, New Milton, Cambridge and Poole.

Triffids! – the audio drama

If you can’t see it in person, the show is also available to download thanks to B7 Media (The Martian Chronicles, Dan Dare). It runs for 1 hour and 20 minutes, described as “A podcast adventure in sound and music.”

Platform 4’s Artistic Director, Catherine Church says:

“We are delighted to be collaborating with B7 Media for the first time on distributing Triffids! Inspired by the classic cold war novel The Day of the Triffids, none of us knew how weirdly prescient this piece would be. The novel essentially asks the question – what would you do if a deadly germ invaded the world? Would you stay in your immediate community? How would you feel about the many things we take for granted? How would it change your priorities in life? 

B7 Media’s Production Director, Helen Quigley adds;

“The Day of The Triffids has seen multiple adaptations and interpretations since its publication in 1951, so when I heard Platform 4’s version I was impressed by their genuinely original and truly immersive take on this classic story. It’s unique, yet still perfectly conveys the unsettling tone of the novel.”

Triffids! Can be purchased on download from B7 Media and dates for the show are available from Platform 4.