DigiLab 2025: Call Out
2nd May 2025
Press Release
An imitating the dog production
War of the Worlds
Retold by imitating the dog
Supported by Lancaster Arts and Cast, Doncaster
imitating the dog to premiere audacious and timely retelling of H.G. Wells’s The War of the Worlds
Next year imitating the dog, one of the UK’s most original and innovative theatre companies is set to push their inventive storytelling to new heights when they stage a contemporary retelling of H.G Wells’s iconic science fiction tale The War of the Worlds.
Created by imitating the dog’s co-artistic directors Andrew Quick, Simon Wainwright and Pete Brooks, imitating the dog’s retelling of War of the Worlds will open at Cast Doncaster from 5-7 February ahead of a UK & Switzerland tour which will finish in early May.
Four performers enter the stage and construct an epic road movie before our eyes.
It’s a story we know, or think we know – an apocalyptic tale of alien invasion and the unfolding destruction of everything we hold dear. Extraterrestrial lifeforms land from the skies. Lines of Brits scrabble to flee across the channel while their cities and towns lie in smouldering ruins. It’s all of our worst nightmares.
What would you do if order broke down? What would you do to survive? How far would you go to protect your own?
Using miniature environments, model worlds, camera tricks and projection, imitating the dog mix the live and the recorded, the animate and the inanimate to create a thrilling, audacious and timely retelling of H. G. Wells’s classic novel.
Following their acclaimed adaptations of literary classics Heart of Darkness (2018), Dracula (2021), Macbeth (2023) and Frankenstein (2024), imitating the dog are set to push their creative storytelling to new heights.
Andrew Quick, Co-Director and Artistic Director of imitating the dog said:
“I am so excited to be working on our adaptation of War of the Worlds. It’s a great story, and its themes of paranoia, moral panic, technological and ecological catastrophe, and the ways in which society implodes when faced with crisis, seem so relevant to today.
It’s a story of immense intensity and adapting the novel produces some difficult challenges. We are testing our technological and storytelling skills to the limit but producing some amazing sequences that do justice to the novel, but which also connect to contemporary concerns.
We have been exploring how to combine live green screen acting with miniature model worlds to create a live movie that is created in front of the audience. Imagine a detailed model of a destroyed city: you see a performer operate a camera that moves through its devastated buildings. At the same time, in another part of the stage, you see a live performer being filmed and the image of their performance is then projected into the city landscape, so you see them looking out of one of the windows in one of its burnt out buildings. This interlacing of the live and the miniature, the real and the model, is a new direction for us, but it creates some stunning effects.
And we need these effects to create the extraordinary, compelling and epic story that we are telling – all with just four performers. Of all productions across 27 years of theatre making, this is the most ambitious and technologically challenging work that we have made. I really can’t wait to see how audiences react.”
The production’s creative team will feature set and costume design by Abby Clarke (Unfortunate – The Untold Story, national tour), projection and video design by Simon Wainwright (The Kid Stays in the Picture, Royal Court), lighting by Andrew Crofts (Trash Cuisine, Belarus Free Theatre and The Young Vic) and original music composed by James Hamilton (Night of The Living Dead ™ – Remix, imitating the dog). Casting will be announced in the coming months.
imitating the dog have been making ground-breaking work for theatres and other spaces for 27 years. Their work, which fuses live performance with digital technology, has been seen by hundreds of thousands of people in venues, outdoor festivals, and events across the world. Past productions have included Hotel Methuselah, A Farewell to Arms, Heart of Darkness, Night of The Living Dead ™- Remix, the award-winning Dracula: The Untold Story, Frankenstein, and most recently, All Blood Runs Red. In 2022 the company staged Cinema Inferno, a ground-breaking new show for the Parisian haute couture house Maison Margiela, based on an original concept by creative director John Galliano, for Maison Margiela’s Artisanal 2022 collection, presented on the official Paris Haute Couture Calendar.
imitating the dog’s retelling of War of the Worlds premieres at Cast, Doncaster from 5-7 February before touring to The Dukes Theatre, Lancaster (18-21 February); Lowry, Salford (25-28 February); Liverpool Playhouse (4-7 March); New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich (11-14 March); Belgrade Theatre (18-21 March); Theatr Clwyd (15-18 April) and Blackpool Grand Theatre (22-25 April) with further dates to be confirmed. The production will also tour to Switzerland in April.
War of the Worlds is supported by Lancaster Arts and Cast, Doncaster
For more information on War of the Worlds visit imitatingthedog.co.uk
-Ends-
For all press material, images, interview and press ticket requests, please contact:
Duncan Clarke PR, 07880893750 or duncanclarkepr@gmail.com
NOTES TO EDITORS
PRESS PERFORMANCE
Friday 6 February at 7pm & Saturday 7 February at 2.30pm
CREATIVE TEAM
An imitating the dog production
War of the Worlds
Based on H. G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds
Retold by imitating the dog
Supported by Lancaster Arts and Cast, Doncaster
Written and Directed by Pete Brooks and Andrew Quick
Projection and Video Designs by Simon Wainwright
Set and Costume Design by Abby Clarke
Lighting Design by Andrew Crofts
Music and Sound Design by James Hamilton
TOUR DATES 2026:
5-7 February – Cast, Doncaster
Box Office: 01302 303959 / castindoncaster.com
18-21 February – The Dukes, Lancaster
Box Office: 01524 598500 / dukeslancaster.org
25-28 February – Lowry, Salford Quays
Box Office: 0161 8762000 / thelowry.com
4-7 March – Liverpool Playhouse – On sale soon
Box Office: 0151 7094776 / everymanplayhouse.com
11-14 March – New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich – On sale soon
Box Office: 01473 295900 / wolseytheatre.co.uk/
18-21 March – Belgrade Theatre, Coventry – On sale soon
Box Office: 024 76553055 / belgrade.co.uk
15-18 April – Theatr Clwyd, Mold – On sale soon
Box Office: 01352 344101 / theatrclwyd.com
22-25 April – Blackpool Grand Theatre
Box Office: 01253 290190 / blackpoolgrand.co.uk
Dates TBC – Leeds Playhouse – On sale soon
Box Office: 0113 2137700 / leedsplayhouse.org.uk
PRODUCER
IMITATING THE DOG
imitating the dog is a National Portfolio Organisation which have been making ground-breaking work for theatres and other spaces for 25 years. Their work, which fuses live performance with digital technology, has been seen by hundreds of thousands of people in venues, outdoor festivals, and events across the world.
Past productions have included Hotel Methuselah, A Farewell to Arms, Heart of Darkness, Night of The Living Dead ™- Remix, Dracula: The Untold Story, Macbeth, Frankenstein, and most recently, All Blood Runs Red.
To date in 2025, imitating the dog’s site-specific work has featured in the Otherham Winter Festival in Rotherham in January and the launch of bicentenary celebrations of the Stockton & Darlington Railway in March.
SUPPORT FROM:
CAST, DONCASTER
@CastInDoncaster |castindoncaster.com
Having opened in 2013, Cast welcomes over 100,000 audience members every year. It runs a vibrant participation programme, engaging with people of all ages and backgrounds from communities across Doncaster, encouraging them to take part in workshops, events, and productions. It also supports and commissions work with exciting local artists, hosting scratch nights and artist hangouts where both experienced and emerging artists can thrive. Though firmly embedded in the cultural life of Doncaster, Cast is still a young, distinctive, and forward-thinking arts centre with a well-established reputation, locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally.
The 620-seat theatre presents an extensive and varied programme throughout the year, including music, dance, family shows, comedy, and drama. As well as the main auditorium, the second space can accommodate up to 200 people and features the very best of small-scale touring productions. Through Cast’s regional and countrywide creative partnerships with theatres and artists, they offer the very best in performing arts, with long-term programmes of engagement and performances from world-renowned companies, such as the National Theatre and The Royal Opera House, taking place alongside the newest freshest work from early career artists. Cast strives to be an inclusive organisation, open and welcoming to everyone.
LANCASTER ARTS
where ideas, peoples and places connect
Lancaster Arts has a long-established artistic reputation for the creation, development and presentation of cutting-edge contemporary arts and a part of Arts Council England’s portfolio as a combined arts organisation.
Based at Lancaster University, Lancaster Arts has presented contemporary theatre, circus, dance, music and visual arts for over 40 years in the Nuffield Theatre, the Great Hall and the Peter Scott Gallery as well as locations on campus and across the region. The Peter Scott Gallery is also an accredited museum, taking care of Lancaster University’s Art Collection, a rich and varied collection spanning thousands of years.
The artistic programme includes commissions, festivals, Creative Gatherings and artist residencies, often with university academics and has supported the research and development stages of creating artwork. Many national and international companies had their beginnings in the Nuffield Theatre such as Forced Entertainment and imitating the dog! Recently, Lancaster Arts has been producing outdoor arts, particularly with environmental themes.
Visit lancasterarts.org to learn more or follow @lancasterartsuk on social media for the latest updates.
ARTS COUNCIL ENGLAND
Arts Council England is the national development agency for creativity and culture. Their vision, set out in their strategy Let’s Create, is that by 2030, they want England to be a country in which the creativity of each of us is valued and given the chance to flourish, and where every one of us has access to a remarkable range of high-quality cultural experiences. Between 2023 and 2026 they will have invested over £467million of public money from Government, alongside an estimated £250 million each year from The National Lottery, to help ensure that people in every part of the country have access to culture and creativity in the places where they live. Until Autumn 2025, the National Lottery is celebrating its 30th anniversary of supporting good causes in the United Kingdom: since the first draw was held in 1994, it has raised £49 billion and awarded more than 690,000 individual grants.
Visit our website to learn more about our work. www.artscouncil.org.uk
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