''Garth Marenghi's Fright Knight'' was a low-budget

horror Horror may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Genres *Horror fiction, a genre of fiction **Psychological horror, a subgenre of horror fiction **Christmas horror, a subgenre of horror fiction **Analog horror, a subgenre of horror fiction * ...

parody A parody is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satire, satirical or irony, ironic imitation. Often its subject is an Originality, original work or some aspect of it (theme/content, author, style, e ...

stage show written by

Richard Ayoade Richard Ayoade ( ; born 23 May 1977) is a British comedian, actor, writer, director and presenter. He played the role of socially awkward IT technician Maurice Moss in Channel 4 sitcom ''The IT Crowd'' (2006–2013), for which he won the 2014 Br ...

and

Matthew Holness Matthew James Holness (born 1975) is an English comedian, director, author, plus actor. He is known for creating and portraying the fictional horror author Garth Marenghi. Early life and education Born in Whitstable, Kent, Holness became a fa ...

, and starring Holness, Ayoade and

Alice Lowe Alice Eva Lowe (born 3 April 1977)England & Wales births 1837 – 2006 is an English actress, writer, director, and comedian. She has appeared as Dr. Haynes in '' Black Mirror: Bandersnatch'' and Madeleine Wool/Liz Asher in ''Garth Marenghi's ...

. The show, which spoofed

Stephen King Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author. Dubbed the "King of Horror", he is widely known for his horror novels and has also explored other genres, among them Thriller (genre), suspense, crime fiction, crime, scienc ...

, was performed at the 2000 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, where it was nominated for the

Perrier Award Perrier ( , also , ) is a French brand of bottled water marketed as coming from its source in Vergèze, located in the Gard ''département''. Perrier was part of the Perrier Vittel Group SA, which became Nestlé Waters France after the acqui ...

.Gibbons, Fiachra (2000)
Perrier snub for prime contender
, ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', 24 August 2000, retrieved 2010-03-28Gardner, Lyn (2000)
Garth Marenghi's Fright Knight
, ''

'', 24 August 2000, retrieved 2010-03-28 The show was built around Holness's spoof horror writer character

Garth Marenghi Garth Marenghi is a fictional horror author created by English comedian Matthew Holness. He is depicted as a conceited hack writer, who remains blissfully (or even wilfully) unaware of his lack of talent. The character has appeared in two stage ...

, with additional parts played by Ayoade (as Marenghi's publisher Dean Learner) and Lowe. The show led to Holness and Ayoade being signed by Avalon Entertainment Limited. The sequel to ''Fright Knight'', ''

Garth Marenghi's Netherhead ''Garth Marenghi's Netherhead'' was a low-budget comedy horror stage show written by Matthew Holness and Richard Ayoade, and starring Holness, Ayoade and Alice Lowe. It was performed at the 2001 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, where it won the Perrie ...

'', won the Perrier Award in

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

Critical reception

Lyn Gardner of ''

'' described it as "a very slick and very funny spoof". Chortle.com described it as "a splendidly over-the-top spoof gorefest, getting plenty of laughs from hammy overacting, ridiculous plots and laboriously melodramatic lines".

References

External links

Official Garth Marenghi website
British plays Garth Marenghi's Darkplace 2000 plays Parodies of works by Stephen King {{2000s-play-stub