Edy Hurst, the critically acclaimed musical comedian who has appeared on BBC Radio 4, Next Up Comedy, and BBC Radio Manchester, is currently touring his anything-but-succinctly-titled show Edy Hurst’s Comedy Version of Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of H.G. Wells’ Literary Version (Via Orson Welles’ Radio Version and Steven Spielberg’s Film Version) of The War of the Worlds.
No one would have believed that in the 125 years since the publication of H.G. Wells’ The War of The Worlds that the novel would find itself under constant threat from the invasion of its own remakes. But Hurst is here to defend the earth and finish the story once and for all.
Having selflessly sifted through the endless array of remakes, reboots, re-imaginations and rip offs, Hurst’s show is an interactive, multimedia, comedy rock opera to hilariously unite all retellings.
The show has been performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, London’s Museum of Comedy and Buxton Fringe where it was nominated for ‘Best Comedy Show’.
Ahead of dates in Margate, Finchley and Salford, we heard from Hurst about the genesis of the show, and its title.
Q&A with Edy Hurst
What can you tell us about Edy Hurst’s Comedy Version of Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of H.G. Wells’ Literary Version (Via Orson Welles’ Radio Version and Steven Spielberg’s Film Version) of The War of the Worlds?
The War of the Worlds is a novel by H.G. Wells, first serialised in 1897 to both popular and critical acclaim. Since then, the proto science fiction novel about Martians invading earth has been remade in more or less every form of entertainment imaginable. Film, Radio, Video Games, Films based on the other films, documentaries and books based on radio shows, authorised and unauthorised sequels to the novel, Musicals, cocktails and, of course, a selection of soft furnishings.
But no more! Once and for all, I’m making the ultimate comprehensive version of the War of the Worlds, combing the pathos, the bathos and the atmos of the multitude of retellings into its perfect format – an hour long lofi comedy rock opera with all the resources of a school jumble sale. You’re welcome!
How has the tour been so far?
Good! It’s been a surreal experience going from performing in an attic in Edinburgh at midnight to theatres and arts centres across the country, but an exciting one.
When I first started working on the show I knew it could have been very niche, but I’m delighted that it’s connecting with audiences. People come up after the show and say how they used to listen to Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of the War of the Worlds on car journeys with their parents, or were terrified listening to it at home. Or how they learnt in school about the Orson Welles’ broadcast that made people think Martians were actually invading.
There’s this cross-generational connection a lot of people have to the original story, whether that’s from the Steven Spielberg Tom Cruise film, the Musical or the original novel, and that’s both very nice and a great relief. Although less people seem to know about the Malaysian anime by the co-creator of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, so I’m glad I’m bringing something to the table.
Where did the original inspiration for the show (and the show’s name) come from?
As many people of my age, I discovered Jeff Wayne’s Musical version of the War of the Worlds whilst rummaging through my parents’ vinyl collection, along with a record of the Songs of The Goodies. I think both of those finds probably say a lot about me and the show.
It’s an album of wall to wall bangers based around a proto-scifi Victorian Colonialism parable set in Woking. And it has David Essex and Phil Lynott from Thin Lizzy in, the natural creative partners.
When I was making my debut show there was a section of me talking about Jeff, and then trying to make my own version of that version and also every other version so no one felt left out, and it became apparent in the Work in Progress stage that this was bigger than a bit in a show.
The title was a joke based on how Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of War of the Worlds is called Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of the War of the Worlds which feels specific at the least, and then as the show developed it grew and grew until it became the scourge of events programmers we know it as today.
It’s a big daft stupid show, and I hope that by the time you’ve read the title, you know if it’s for you.
The partnering podcast Edy Hurst’s Podcast Version of… The War of the Worlds was released during lockdown. What was it like creating the podcast?
With the world locking down thanks to the one thing that in War of the Worlds is meant to save us, germs, I was still writing and developing the show, but realised that there were so many ideas, lines of thought and songs that I wanted to do but couldn’t fit into an hour long live show.
Making the podcast was a way to continue developing this, whilst also sharing what I was up to with audiences who were interested. It turns out that people were interested. People in Bermuda specifically, where for some reason it became the number one Science Fiction Podcast, but it’s also been in the charts all over the world, including Denmark, Spain, the UK and Australia.
A welcome surprise was how many experts and academics were happy to give their time talking to me through subjects such as colonialism in the late-Victorian era, how convinced people were about Germs in general (and vaccinations) and even whether odds of a million to one are worth placing a bet on.
In terms of what it was like, it was a lot. I’m still working on the final chapter as I write this, and the way I set work out for myself is a bit like expanding insulation foam. So what started as me reading the book with some asides turned into deep dives of research, original songs from myself and guests, a score that I wrote the majority of (as well as some excellent synthesized scores by Jason Cooke) and some stand alone episodes of Wells’ other short stories & interviews for good measure.
How would you describe Edy Hurst’s Comedy Version of Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of H.G. Wells’ Literary Version (Via Orson Welles’ Radio Version and Steven Spielberg’s Film Version) of The War of the Worlds to someone considering buying a ticket for the tour?
I think that if you’re not on board by the time you finish reading the title, there’s not much more I can do to convince you.
It’s a big silly hour of songs, DIY props, video, large plaster of Paris Martians and stand up celebrating and commiserating 125 years of the unceasing remakes, reboots and rip offs of the War of the Worlds into one handy package. It was nominated for Best Comedy Show at Buxton Fringe (I’m surprised too) and has been described as ‘One of the Best shows ever taken to the Fringe.’ (Blizzard Comedy)
Come and join me in defending the earth from Martian invaders, and public domain franchises run amok!
Edy Hurst’s Comedy Version of Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of H.G. Wells’ Literary Version (Via Orson Welles’ Radio Version and Steven Spielberg’s Film Version) of The War of the Worlds comes to Tom Thumb Theatre in Margate on 13th April, Finchley Arts Depot on 14th April and Salford Lowry on 4th June.
