Midlands Arts Centre, November 5, 2022

Horror writer, artist, actor and Matthew Holness impersonator Garth Marenghi holds court to begrudgingly (and presumably contractually) promote his new book.

The Midlands Arts Centre in Edgbaston, Birmingham is currently celebrating 60 years of entertainment, while also running its annual Square Eyes Television Festival, but veteran horror author Garth Marenghi was having none of it. Tonight was all about him and his new trilogy of terror – TerrorTome.

The two sold out shows both started with a screening of 2004’s opening episode of Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace, Once Upon a Beginning, though we all know it was made in the 1980s and was a big hit in Peru, right? And what a treat it was. I could not start to guess how many times I’ve watched this show, but seeing it on a big screen with an appreciative audience made it feel brand new.

And then the curmudgeonly author came onto the stage. One member of the audience challenged him as to how he still looked so young, and it was confirmed that he had indeed made a pact, but he swiftly moved things on. Inevitably, the self-proclaimed genius shared a reading from TerrorTome, a horrific page or so about procreating with a possessed typewriter, and we were warned that worse was to follow.

The author continued to use this platform to have a go at editors (‘…basically, they fuck things up’), denied that Clive Barker’s legal team will get anywhere with claims of copyright theft (‘That’s bullshit’) and when one audience member baited him by asking what his favourite punctuation mark was (an ellipsis, obviously), things soon turned sour.

This is, of course, an act by the talented Matthew (Possum) Holness who has created an absolute monster in the deluded and adversarial  Marenghi. ‘I’ll fight any one,’ he shared. ‘I’d even fight Richard Osman… and he’d be grateful.’ The genius of the performance – an amalgamation of among others, James Herbert, Shaun Hutson, Richard Madeley and a petulant child – is that Holness is constantly on his toes, responding to questions in character, with some absolute zingers of replies.

Marenghi never left the room, with books signed in the author’s name – Holness is luckily credited inside the book – and table conversations and selfies conducted by the bespectacled, polo-neck wearing writer. I consider myself fortunate that having previously met Holness at a Possum event, I feel like I’ve now met both Clark Kent AND Superman.

Verdict: Welcome back Garth, you narcissistic old hack. You never fail to disappoint, but we wouldn’t have it any other way. A hilarious, horror nostalgic night out. 10/10

Nick Joy

 

Get details of the book tour’s locations and dates, which now runs from 12 November to 13 December 2022 https://www.livenation.co.uk/artist-garth-marenghi-1394500.