The team behind Irish horror fiction podcast Petrified are making their Irish live debut this October, with a show at Dublin's Laughter Lounge. Below, co-creator Peter Dunne recounts the lengths to which he's willing go to scare himself silly.
'How scary is too scary?' That's a thought I had when I was being nailed into a coffin, soaking wet and covered in gunk during a research trip. It was an unusual location to be finally questioning my life choices.
Let's backtrack a little. I’ve been a lifelong lover of horror - growing up in the days of banned videos, a cousin returning from abroad with a copy of Evil Dead on video was a highlight of this creepy kid’s childhood. So you can understand that for a mini weirdo becoming a grown up weirdo, the possibility of making a career of the thing you love most is a nightmare come true.
Over the years, I’ve written horror theatre, horror radio and horror podcasts, I’ve even had a foray into the world of comics. Something that always interested me throughout was how fear was a form of entertainment for me while for other people, the thought of paying good money to be frightened is ridiculous. I wanted to look into that more, so I undertook a huge research project into horror.
I worked with child psychologists and children to discover the roots of our fears and phobias. Unfortunately for all you folk with kids out there, the takeaway was - it’s mostly the parents’ fault. I spoke with people who make horror-related entertainment, the takeaway being that they’re all pretty nice. But one of the biggest aspects was, if I want to make a career out of scaring other people, I have to be willing to be scared myself. What’s that saying? 'Don’t do anything that I wouldn’t do.’
Which led me to taking part in one of the most gruelling, thrilling, and yes, terrifying, things I’ve ever encountered. The coffin thing. It was a six hour endurance event which can best be described as a mixture of Navy Seal training and the challenges on I’m A Celebrity. I was even brought face to face with my own phobia. Let’s just say there was extreme eating involved, and leave it there in case you’re having your dinner.
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All of that has led to Petrified - an award-winning horror anthology podcast created by myself and Liam Geraghty looking at a darker Ireland. Throughout its three series, we’ve featured stories about the Panto, The 12 Pubs of Christmas, ghost estates, moving statues, nuns on a terrifying pilgrimage, and a host of other things associated with Ireland, but given a supernatural twist. We’ve even had the iconic Anne Doyle herself playing a cameo role!
This October 25th, we’ll be presenting a live episode of the podcast to Irish audiences for the first time. Yes, just in time for Halloween, the Laughter Lounge in Dublin will play host to a fittingly skin crawling story created especially for a live audience. You can expect a few laughs, but mainly chills, from our wonderful cast and creators.
Oh, and if you want to hear more about that six hour torture session - stick around for the Q&A afterward where Liam and I will be answering any questions and providing a look behind the scenes of how we make Petrified. Talking in front of a large group of people? Now that’s scary.
Petrified LIVE takes place on Oct 25th in The Laughter Lounge, Dublin - find out more here, and listen to more from Petrified here.
