Ahead of his one-man show, Nicholas Vince reveals what’s behind the masks

Actor and writer Nicholas Vince describes his monstrous journey from bullied childhood to celluloid success.

Ahead of his one-man show, I AM MONSTERS! at The Pleasance, actor and writer Nicholas Vince reveals what's behind the masks


The many talented people and long processes involved in creating the makeups. I may have brought life to the characters, but it was the makeup artists (Nigel Booth on Chatterer, Cliff Wallace on Chatterer II and Neil Gorton on Kinski) who sculpted and painted them based on Clive Barker’s designs. Before we reached filming those guys spent weeks creating the masks.


How did you first become attracted to monsters?






Once I’d moved away from home, I was able to come out to close friends, but not my parents. That didn’t happen until my mid-thirties. I do regret that as they were very loving and when a relationship fell apart with a boyfriend, it meant I missed out on their support. And not being completely out, by which I mean just keeping quiet about relationships, being an apparent loner, it complicated my friendships with good looking straight men, as I was afraid if they realised I fancied them they’d either cut me off or beat me up.

How did you meet Clive Barker?



Yes. I’d told Clive about a documentary I’d seen about facial reconstructive surgery where they’d obviously used a similar technique to my surgeons, as the only cut was between my upper lip and gum and they’d peeled the face back so they could detach the upper jaw. The flesh of the face was held in place by clamps, much like Chatterer.

Ahead of his one-man show, I AM MONSTERS! at The Pleasance, actor and writer Nicholas Vince reveals what's behind the masksTo play the Chatterer, you had to wear a mask and makeup that were extremely restrictive. How challenging was that?


Someone recently complimented me on my ‘meticulous performance’ and I realised that’s one of the strengths of Chatterer. We could only do short sequences with me as I had to learn my moves quickly and I worked hard to replicate them accurately, but that stillness and precision give him a great deal of power.


Yes, up at 3am for a car from Streatham to Pinewood for 4am and the makeup chair for five hours. But I just had to sit still for that time. The two guys who applied it, Neil and Mark, were on their feet all that time making sure the pieces were properly applied and you couldn’t see the edges. I wasn’t allowed to fall asleep, so they had a VHS player and I remember watching Steve Martin and John Candy in ‘Planes, Trains and Automobiles. Which was frustrating as I also wasn’t allowed to laugh either!


It’s the fun of telling stories and talking to readers. In many ways it’s more challenging than acting as there you have a script and you’re putting the flesh on the bones, but with writing you’re faced with the sometimes terrifying wastes of a blank page. I remember Peter Atkins, the screenwriter of Hellbound: Hellraiser II, telling me when I first started writing, “Nick, there will be a time, at least once a day, when you’ll wonder why you ever thought you can write.”

He was right and the only way I’ve found to get through it is to do research, which as a writer said at literary event the other day can be, “Research, bordering on procrastination.” And then it’s just a question of writing something, anything, as you can polish it.



There are a couple, but I’m waiting for them to be released before I can talk about them. I did do an interview for the extras on the Arrow Video release of the theatrical and director’s cuts of Nightbreed, which they’re releasing on 28th October, and which is available for pre-order. I believe this is the first UK release of the film since the VHS version back in the 1990’s.

Do you have any other plans for I AM MONSTERS! after its premiere at the London Horror Festival?

People have been very interested in the show and I’ve had enquiries about taking it to Liverpool and Las Vegas. Both of which would be really cool, as Liverpool is Clive’s home town and I’ve never been to Vegas.


Tickets: 020 7609 1800