notlikecalvin

After three years of Victorian-themed sketches and plays, the Dreadfuls decided on something a bit more modern-day for outing number four.

The Never Man is a comedy action thriller set on the mysterious theme park of Beef Island; an ex-cop out for revenge joins forces with a man with no memory to defeat the machinations of the sinister Doctor Lovable. Essentially it's The Bourne Identity with cow puns and a 6ft7inch eight-year-old.

Getting away from the trappings of the 1890s was both a blessing and a curse. It was great to expand the scope of the score, with a bunch of more modern music to keep the pace pumping along, and the guys really liked being able to reference the internet in the script — but there's no doubt that we missed the instant familiarity of melodrama that the Victorian adventures gave us.

The other aspect that came about through the show's long gestation was an increased role of devising and play — from the beginning the story wasn't anywhere near set in stone, and that gave the guys a certain freedom to experiment.