Wednesday, October 25, 2023

Halloween - War of The Worlds Stage Show - Saturday





























  
      The War of The Worlds comes to London City on Saturday!

On  30th October 1938 long before television, CBS broadcast a radio version of The War of The Worlds.

They mentioned several times at the start of the show that it was a dramatization.

The format of the show was that of a light music program, constantly interrupted by reporters giving an account of the aliens progressive invasion.

What the network had overlooked was that the average radio listener to jump stations throughout the evening.

As the play continued, more and more people tuned in to the War of The Worlds broadcast without realising it was a play. Furthermore the radio broadcast had used real town names instead of fictitious ones, and one by one each town fell into the hands of the Martians.

Panic ensued as whole towns, swept in waves of hysteria, packed their possessions and fled to surrounding areas.


A suicide was reported as one woman said she would rather die than be taken by the Martians. In another town there was a fatal stampede as residents desperate to leave trampled each other.

The following morning CBS were forced to hold a press conference to explain themselves and to apologize for the duress they had subjected their listeners to.

Ultimately with such intense press coverage, this catapulted the actor who has played the lead reporter, a young and unknown Orson Welles, into super-stardom.  Just three short years later, he wrote, produced, directed and starred in Citizen Kane.


Join us in London City on Saturday for the interactive stage show version of this most famous of classics.

Our evening begins with a huge mass of luminous gas erupting from Mars and heading towards Earth.

Across two-hundred-million miles of void, invisibly hurtling towards us, is the first of the missiles that will bring so much calamity.

Be part of this show.  Come dressed however you like, but to be in the cast and to dance on the stage, please wear turn of the century or steampunk clothing.  Men in cloth caps and working clothes, ladies in bustles or bonnets, or as maids.   Circa anytime between 1880 to 1940.


The event starts at 1pm SL Time (8pm UK)

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