The Grinning Man

The Grinning Man

The Grinning Man

Based on the novel The Man Who Laughs by Victor Hugo

The Grinning Man

The Grinning Man

Based on the novel The Man Who Laughs by Victor Hugo

Overview

A strange new act has arrived at Trafalgar Fair’s freakshow.

Who is Grinpayne and how did he get his hideous smile?

With the help of an old puppeteer, his pet wolf and a blind girl, Grinpayne’s tale is told. When word spreads across the capital, everything changes. Desperate to know the terrible secrets of his mysterious past, Grinpayne leaves his true love behind and embarks on a journey into an even crueller world – the aristocracy.

The Grinning Man is a fairy-tale love story streaked with pitch-black humour, lashings of Gothic horror and swashbuckling adventure. It opened at Bristol Old Vic in 2016 to great acclaim and in 2017 transferred to the West End’s Trafalgar Studios, where it achieved cult status and rave reviews.

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Details

  • Genre: Fantasy, Adaptation (Literature), Fable/Folktale
  • Cast Attributes: Reduced Casting (Doubling Possible), Expandable Casting, Flexible Cast Size
  • Target Audience: Appropriate for All Audiences

Authors

Carl Grose

Carl Grose’s plays include: Grand Guignol, Superstition Mountain, Gargantua, Horse Piss For Blood, The Kneebone Cadillac and 49 Donkeys Hanged. For twenty-six years he worked with the internationally acclaimed Cornish theatre company, Kneehigh, as writer, actor and co-arti ...
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Tom Morris

Tom Morris is Artistic Director of Bristol Old Vic and has been Associate Director of the National Theatre since 2004. He was the Artistic Director of BAC from 1995 to 2004 and has worked widely as a journalist, broadcaster and freelance writer, producer and director.

Pro ...
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Tim Phillips

Tim Phillips is an award-winning Canadian/British composer and lyricist. He is a graduate of The Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. His first foray into musical theatre came after joining forces with Marc Teitler to create their concept album Burn Me Dead, based o ...
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Marc Teitler

Following its successful premiere at the Bristol Old Vic in 2016 The Grinning Man co-written with Carl Grose, Tom Morris & Tim Phillips (dir. Tom Morris) transferred to the West End’s Trafalgar Studios in December 2017. A motion capture version of the theatre show was made by ...
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