A SPINE-chilling new play based on Edgar Allan Poe's terrifying classic The Masque of the Red Death will be staged at the Brindley Theatre, Runcorn later this year on October 16.

Prince Prospero and a handful of his nobility shut themselves away in a heavily fortified castle, to escape the terrible plague sweeping their land.

Known as the Red Death, it kills everyone and everything in its path.

Disdainfully indifferent to the sufferings of his people, the Prince throws a lavish ball, but as the masque reaches its climax and the clock chimes midnight, a mysterious, uninvited guest is found in their midst ... a guest that wreaks a terrifying revenge.

Theatre company Rumpus uses all its usual "excellent acting, sound and lighting” (remotegoat.co.uk) to take the audience to the Prince's Palace, the peasants' villages, the fortified castle and on a last, gloriously grotesque journey through the Masque's sinister labyrinth.

For tickets and information see

www.thebrindley.org.uk

or call the Brindley box office on 0151 907 8360.