THE LAST HALLOWEEN OF DIABLO by Wayne Middleton - 7.30pm Monday 10 November - Upstairs@North London Tavern

A married couple's annual Halloween party spirals out of control thanks to simmering resentments – and a disembowelled clown called Diablo.

Ruth and Zadie celebrate Halloween by plotting to kill each other. From the moment Ruth pursued much-younger Zadie, she had the upper hand; right down to the miserly allowance she hands out each week. Ruth obsessively loves the idea of Zadie; the attractiveness of Zadie. But Heaven forbid Zadie has individual wants, needs, or thoughts! And Zadie can’t voice her growing unhappiness; the spark has gone, but she knows Ruth will twist and gaslight and convince her to stay. She needs a different approach. A deadlier one.

Wayne is an LGBTQ+ writer, ex-journalist and exhausted father to a six-year-old ball of crazy. He has had samples of his work on parenthood and depression performed at Arcola Theatre and The Pleasance Theatre. (Although another London-based theatre deemed it "offensive and disturbing" and refused to stage it; but who wants to write something beige?!)

International Screenwriters' Association called him: "A writer with his finger on the pulse of today's audiences."