The Void: Q&A
with Alex Moran
We caught up with Producer and Actor, Alex Moran, about Thunder Road’s chilling new sci-fi horror, The Void.
Hi, Alex! You play Flint, a space ranger drawn into a nightmare. What can you tell us about this character, and what are you most looking forward to about playing him?
Flint is haunted, not only by his past but by the absurdity of routine. He wants to be the hero in his own story. I’m sure he'd love to be more of an R.J. MacReady type (Kurt Russell's leading character in The Thing) but he’s fallen short. But then he’s thrown into a desperate fight for survival, and that's exactly the kind of horror scenario I'm so excited to explore. High energy, intense conflict, so much fun.
As Producer, you’ve helped shape the show from behind the scenes as well. What were some of the biggest creative or logistical challenges on this project?
The show is an absolute monster! I think the biggest challenge has been shaping the live experience for audiences, especially when there’s so much going on visually in front of them: grand-scale illusions, visual effects, scares on stage, and scares on-screen too. We set out from the get-go to make this process deeply collaborative, and that’s made a huge difference.
Thunder Road is known for its “cinematic theatre” style. What does that mean in practice – and how do you achieve it live, night after night?
It’s about making our stories visually impressive. Our work blends both theatre and multimedia (film action) together on stage and places the audience at the very heart of everything we do. We rehearse, we rehearse, and we rehearse again to get the rhythm just right. The film sequences might be pre-recorded, but the live action must blend seamlessly with the footage. It’s quite a challenge, but a fun one!
You’ve toured horror shows across the UK for years now. How do audiences respond to Thunder Road’s work and have there been any memorable reactions on the road?
There have been so many memorable responses over the years. We’ve had people run out screaming on more than one occasion, thankfully they’ve always been okay afterwards. For me personally, it’s about seeing thousands of young people totally immersed in the experience. It’s a chance for them to escape, to get out there and really embrace the horror, and they’ve certainly done that. Long may that continue.
Photo by Andrew Billington
The Void is packed with striking visuals, sound and illusions. Can you tell us a bit about the creative team behind it, and how audiences will see their work come to life on stage?
We're incredibly lucky to have an exceptional team on board: award-winning composers, cinematographers, VFX editors, illusionists and more. I really can’t give too much away about how it all comes to life though - if you’d like to see how it’s done, step into the unknown and grab a ticket.
After Shock Horror and now The Void, what excites you most about where Thunder Road is heading next?
What excites me most is how much things have changed since we started. My dad built the set back then (sorry, Dad, it wasn’t your finest bit of carpentry), and now we’re touring two large-scale multimedia theatre shows (across multiple countries) each year, working in association with leading UK venues like Watford Palace Theatre. I can’t wait to see how much further we can evolve over the next ten years.