Gormenghast

Written by John Constable
Based on the book by Mervyn Peake
Directed by Andy Marchant
Presented by SEDOS

The story begins with a birth. Titus, 77th Earl of Groan is born, and throughout Gormenghast Castle, everyone is jubilant, with the exception of one high dangerously imaginative kitchen boy called Steerpike. John Constable’s adaptation takes the vast trilogy of novels and lets the youth in revolt uprising present in the book come to the forefront. In a city proudly proclaiming “No Change” and steeping itself in tradition and ritual, the young Titus and Steerpike make rival defiance to their world. One rises through the class structure with ruthless cunning. One fights against the roles he is assumed to take. One moves with seduction, murder and arson. The other is a hot-headed and dangerous rebel.

What happens when the immovable object of iron clad tradition and rock-like ritual meets the unstoppable force of defiant youth with a savage hunger for change?