NeuNoir theatre presents Casting The Runes, a strange tale of the occult written by the acknowledged master of the supernatural, M.R. James.

A rambling research paper, written by the mysterious fringe occultist Karswell, is swiftly rejected by an esoteric society’s learned specialist, Edward Dunning, for being 'perfectly hopeless.' But those who dismiss Karswell always pay a dear price - as Dunning quickly discovers when a curiously inscribed piece of paper suddenly appears in his possession.

With an earlier critic found dead in troubling circumstances, is Dunning cursed to follow a similar fate?

Often described as the greatest of all ghost story writers, M.R. James (1862-1936) redefined the genre with a series of groundbreaking shorts. Strong on atmosphere and with contemporary settings, his terrifying tales were designed to chill, exploiting the over-active imaginations of his readers.

Published in James' More Ghost Stories (1911), Casting The Runes is widely acknowledged as his best work. The story of a demonic curse, it was adapted into a film in 1957 (The Night Of The Demon).

Read by actor Richard Usher (Sweet Cherry Publishing's Sherlock Holmes audiobooks; BBC Radio; The Lost Hancocks: Vacant Lot), Casting The Runes is the third production from NeuNoir, whose previous spooky outings have included readings of WH Hodgson's Carnacki: The Ghost Hunter and EF Benson’s The Outcast.