The Blackpool Tower Dungeon - ScareCON join the panel
When Merlin first announced their new management deal for the Blackpool Tower, we were all excited to hear that a Dungeon attraction was on its way. Over the last few months, more information about the attraction was released and the Blackpool Tower building disappeared behind scaffolding as the transition began.
Now with less than 2 months to go, the rooms are designed, the sets have been built and there are just the final effects and details left to be put in. The only thing missing was a cast of gruesome and creative talent to bring the show to life.
So where to start? Realising that Blackpool is full of colourful characters that may not have ever acted before, the Hex Factor was created as an open audition for anyone wanting to try their hand at scaring. The call went out to the public, and the applications flooded in.
The next challenge was to find a panel to judge all these actors. I was asked to be involved due to my position with ScareCON and the fact that I have visited and reviewed all the Dungeons in the UK alongside hundreds of other scare attractions. I joined Dungeon Creative Director Kieron Smith, General Manager Gerry Blackadder and Radio Wave’s breakfast DJs Ged Mills and Hayley Kay.
While we were briefed on our roles (and argued over who was going to be Simon, Louis or Cheryl), the line outside the Tower started to grow with random zombies and creatures.
Now with less than 2 months to go, the rooms are designed, the sets have been built and there are just the final effects and details left to be put in. The only thing missing was a cast of gruesome and creative talent to bring the show to life.
So where to start? Realising that Blackpool is full of colourful characters that may not have ever acted before, the Hex Factor was created as an open audition for anyone wanting to try their hand at scaring. The call went out to the public, and the applications flooded in.
The next challenge was to find a panel to judge all these actors. I was asked to be involved due to my position with ScareCON and the fact that I have visited and reviewed all the Dungeons in the UK alongside hundreds of other scare attractions. I joined Dungeon Creative Director Kieron Smith, General Manager Gerry Blackadder and Radio Wave’s breakfast DJs Ged Mills and Hayley Kay.
While we were briefed on our roles (and argued over who was going to be Simon, Louis or Cheryl), the line outside the Tower started to grow with random zombies and creatures.
The auditions themselves took place in the world famous Blackpool Tower Ballroom, an impressively massive room that made every conversation echo. As judges we were placed up on the stage and each delegate would have to come up on the stage to do their “thing” in front of everyone. If the delegates weren’t already nervous – they were once they’d walked in! We could hear the collective audible gasp as they realised the enormity of the staging and setting.
So with introductions made, the auditions kicked off.
As these were only preliminary auditions, everyone was given up to three minutes to try and scare us. There were no rules, no scripts and no hanging around. If an act finished in a few seconds (as some did) we just moved onto the next one. If someone overran their time slot, they were kindly asked to stop immediately. This kept the whole process very fresh and fast paced throughout the morning.
Obviously when you ask people to walk in off the street for auditions you are never quite sure wheat you are going to get. The whole process started off quite comically when the first auditionee lost his “blood bag” he had hidden on his body and stabbed himself randomly trying to find it. Unfortunately it fell down to his crotch area and as he proceeded to stab himself with a kitchen carving knife in his privates – we thought it best to stop him and move on!
What then followed was a whole series of scare performances utilising many different techniques. We had character based monologues, ghost stories, weird psycho characters and zombies eating bits of their own flesh!
We all jumped a number of times and the two panel members at either end got picked on mercilessly. Kieron, usually by the sexy female vampires and Haley by any other weirdo that saw she was scared! Although I was safely ensconced in the middle of the panel – the better actors included everyone in their performance and many of them managed to get decent jump scares or nervous laughter from us all.
So with introductions made, the auditions kicked off.
As these were only preliminary auditions, everyone was given up to three minutes to try and scare us. There were no rules, no scripts and no hanging around. If an act finished in a few seconds (as some did) we just moved onto the next one. If someone overran their time slot, they were kindly asked to stop immediately. This kept the whole process very fresh and fast paced throughout the morning.
Obviously when you ask people to walk in off the street for auditions you are never quite sure wheat you are going to get. The whole process started off quite comically when the first auditionee lost his “blood bag” he had hidden on his body and stabbed himself randomly trying to find it. Unfortunately it fell down to his crotch area and as he proceeded to stab himself with a kitchen carving knife in his privates – we thought it best to stop him and move on!
What then followed was a whole series of scare performances utilising many different techniques. We had character based monologues, ghost stories, weird psycho characters and zombies eating bits of their own flesh!
We all jumped a number of times and the two panel members at either end got picked on mercilessly. Kieron, usually by the sexy female vampires and Haley by any other weirdo that saw she was scared! Although I was safely ensconced in the middle of the panel – the better actors included everyone in their performance and many of them managed to get decent jump scares or nervous laughter from us all.
Having sat on a number of audition panels in the past, I have seen all manner of attempted scares. Saying that I was impressed by some of the ingenuity on show and could picture many of these actors starring in a Dungeon attraction.
And that was how people got good scores and got through to the next stage. Coughing blood and screaming loud are great effects for a Scare attraction but the Dungeons rely on so much more. Think of any Dungeon you have visited. Most of the scenes are dialogue led and with important key facts to get across – it is imperative that the actor had clear delivery and an ability to hold an audience. Many of the actors learnt and delivered prepared speeches and across the day I heard whole sections from London Dungeons, Pasaje del Terror and Alien Wars. Not surprisingly – all these people got through.
Once everyone had performed, we sat down as a panel to discuss who we would be asking back.. Marks were awarded for originality, scare factor and ability to hold our attention. We were only looking for a limited number of people so discussion was tough but we finally decided and the announcements were made. Everyone who got through the auditions will now face a more exhaustive audition including a full interview and a chance to show the team what they can do with a scripted performance.
And that was how people got good scores and got through to the next stage. Coughing blood and screaming loud are great effects for a Scare attraction but the Dungeons rely on so much more. Think of any Dungeon you have visited. Most of the scenes are dialogue led and with important key facts to get across – it is imperative that the actor had clear delivery and an ability to hold an audience. Many of the actors learnt and delivered prepared speeches and across the day I heard whole sections from London Dungeons, Pasaje del Terror and Alien Wars. Not surprisingly – all these people got through.
Once everyone had performed, we sat down as a panel to discuss who we would be asking back.. Marks were awarded for originality, scare factor and ability to hold our attention. We were only looking for a limited number of people so discussion was tough but we finally decided and the announcements were made. Everyone who got through the auditions will now face a more exhaustive audition including a full interview and a chance to show the team what they can do with a scripted performance.
I really enjoyed my time on the panel and would like to thank Dungeons management for the opportunity to be part of such a unique event. Their enthusiasm for their product is infectious and everyone involved is really excited about the new attraction. With some of the exciting actors we found yesterday, Blackpool Tower Dungeon looks like it’s going to be a lot of fun. Roll on september 1st!
Video footage of this event can be found on the Daily Mirror website. Click here to see.
For more information about The Blackpool Tower Dungeon, check out the official website at www.thedungeons.com
To see our speculation about the shows and entertainment inside the Dungeon click here.
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