dead on cue

Written & performed by Mark Carey

Mark Carey, writer of Into The Breach and What's Wrong with Benny Hill has teamed up with Giles Shenton, producer of Old Herbaceous, Three Men in a Boat, Fagin?, and My Dog's Got No Nose to bring you a spooky thriller set in the same theatre dressing room, during the same play, at the same theatre, but 60 years apart.

During both time periods the theatre is hosting a performance of Hamlet where "time is out of joint."

What is the unearthly link between the two productions?

How can the same things be happening to different people 60 yrs apart?

What secrets have been buried in the old dressing room under the stage?

Why are the actors fascinated by the old dressing room mirror?

Just don't look into it......you might not like what you see!

The stunning effects will have you believing that there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy.

Future dates

1 July 2025 Stafford Gatehouse Theatre, Stafford, Staffs

https://www.gatehousetheatre.co.uk/whatson-event/dead-on-cue/

2 July 2025 Stafford Gatehouse Theatre, Stafford, Staffs

https://www.gatehousetheatre.co.uk/whatson-event/dead-on-cue/

3 July 2025 Stafford Gatehouse Theatre, Stafford, Staffs

https://www.gatehousetheatre.co.uk/whatson-event/dead-on-cue/

12 July 2025 Clyro Village Hall, Powys

https://www.clyrovillagehall.co.uk/events-2

22 Nov 2025 Cherington Village Hall, Warks

https://buytickets.at/gilesshentonproductions

12 Feb 2026 Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham, Glos

13 Feb 2026 Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham, Glos

14 Feb 2026 Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham, Glos (matinee & evening)

3 Oct 2026 Players Theatre, Thame, Oxon

Date TBC Sarah Thorne Theatre, Broadstairs, Kent

Past dates

12 Mar 2025 Ilmington Village Hall, nr Stratford-upon-Avon, Warks

13 Mar 2025 Ilmington Village Hall, nr Stratford-upon-Avon, Warks

14 Mar 2025 Ilmington Village Hall, nr Stratford-upon-Avon, Warks

15 Mar 2025 Ilmington Village Hall, nr Stratford-upon-Avon, Warks

21 Mar 2025 Southwold Arts Centre, Southwold, Suffolk

28 Mar 2025 Cygnet Theatre, Exeter, Devon

29 Mar 2025 Vera Fletcher Hall, Thames Ditton, Surrey

11 April 2025 Sherborne Studio Theatre, Sherborne, Dorset

12 April 2025 Sherborne Studio Theatre, Sherborne, Dorset 2.30pm & 7.30pm

19 April 2025 Cotswold Playhouse, Stroud, Glos

23 April 2025 Bear Pit Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, Warks

24 April 2025 Bear Pit Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, Warks

25 April 2025 Bear Pit Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, Warks

26 April 2025 Brixham Theatre, Brixham, Devon

7 May 2025 Middlesbrough Theatre, Middlesbrough, North Yorks

8 May 2025 Corn Hall, Diss, Suffolk

10 May 2025 Conquest Theatre, Bromyard, Herefordshire

7 June 2025 Dummer Village Hall, Hants

20 June 2025 Barn Theatre, Oxted, Surrey

Reviews

Corn Hall, Diss

Written and performed by Mark Carey, Dead on Cue is a ghost story set in the dressing room of a London theatre where Sir Claude Mason is performing in Hamlet, the twist being we see two iterations, sixty five years apart.

Stuck in the dressing room while Claude treads the boards, are Bertie Tindall in the past and Hamish Fife in the present, minor character actors resentful of Claude Mason’s predominance in the play. Carey plays both Bernie and Hamish in two masterly monologues that deftly present each with such clearly delineated characters it’s at times easy to forget they are played by the same man.

Bertie is the Music Hall ham, full of bluster and mannered delivery, struggling in a world that no longer wants declaratory exposition from a larger than life performer. His role in the play is to set out the jigsaw pieces in such a way that it’s hard to discern the full picture. With the help of some cheeky practical effects and excellent sound design, a claustrophobic sense of unease builds throughout his bilious retelling of the road to misfortune. By the close of the first act he’s left the audience with more questions than answers, as is the way with such tales. The slow and steady pace of MR James comes to mind, or the tall tales from Inside No 9. The play demanded an attentiveness from the audience as subtle clues are teasingly offered up with a deliberate pace that requires patience and good faith that all will be revealed.

After the interval, during which the set was artfully redressed, Bertie’s descendant is pouring over artefacts from the past, as Carey nicely underplays Hamish in sharp contrast to the bombast of Bertie. There’s an elegant precision to the way Carey’s text deftly starts to make sense of the jigsaw pieces of the first half, and an impish ingenuity to the way he misdirects the picture the audience thinks they are seeing. Artfully, Carey integrates the text of Hamlet into the narrative, which together with some impressive stage wizardry elevates the production to something more than a shaggy dog story, albeit one that remains a self-aware hoot for those of us that can’t resist a spooky tale with a satisfyingly twisted conclusion.

dead on cue

Reviews

Corn Hall, Diss

Production photos