Gormenghast (opera) that "Gormenghast is, both in spirit and form, grand opera. But elements and characteristics of musical, the rock concert, and modern dance theatre play equally important roles within it". At a meeting of the UK's Mervyn Peake Society in 1995, Schmidt played three excerpts from the opera-in-progress, recorded on audio cassette—the music for the castle kitchen scene, a duet sung by the twins Cora and Clarice, and Steerpike's drunken song as he climbs to the top of the castle. The music for the castle kitchen had been recorded in his own kitchen using saucepans, plates, spoons, and forks as the
Boy in Darkness "Gormenghast".’ The story is one of Mervyn Peake's short works. After this he wrote only "Titus Alone" (1959); by the time it was published, Parkinson's disease had made writing almost impossible for him, although he continued to draw, intermittently, for several more years. "Boy in Darkness" is an episode in the Gormenghast series when Titus Groan, referred to as "the Boy" in the story, is a young teenager – placing it during the period covered by the second novel in the series, "Gormenghast". Yearning for freedom from his ceaseless duties as 77th Earl of Gormenghast, he escapes the ancient castle