AS the nights start to draw in, York theatre company Procter Goblins open a dark comedy double bill of new works from "some of the most morbid minds in all of Yorkshire" tonight in The Basement at City Screen.

Running until Sunday, Oh No! Not This will be combining This Time It Lives! with the grammatically challenging Kath, Alice And? Stibs! at 7.30pm nightly.

Special guest David Paulides may or may not join regulars Harold Bremmer and Arthur Fisher from Harold and Arthur’s Comedy Horror Podcast for an unusually live edition of their morbid monthly podcast in This Time It Lives!.

This time, they will be discussing mysterious river deaths with Paulides. At least that's the plan. "Who will turn up? He'll definitely turn up. There's no way he won't, otherwise there'd be no event," says Procter Goblins' Ben Rosenfield.

"Come along if you like conspiracy theories, the horror genre, terrible poetry about birds or just want to know more about the actual podcast. Also, there's beer. But you have to pay for it. No freebies. First two rows might get wet and... damn those advert breaks."

Harold Bremmer and Arthur Fisher, both from York, took their first steps with their podcast during their English Literature and Creative Writing studies at Bath Spa University. "We started two years ago, though officially it's been going for four months," says the suitably dark-attired, somewhat mysterious Fisher.

"We've been coming back to our home town to do some investigations into the paranormal, which may or may not be going on in York, and now Ben has offered us the chance to do a live podcast for Procter Goblins, so eternal thanks for that. We'll record each night's show this week and then compile it for the podcast."

What draws you to the paranormal, Mr Fisher? "We just like ghosts and spooky things," he says. Can't argue with that, but just who is this seemingly elusive chap David Paulides?

"He's an ex-San Francisco police officer with 20 years of investigations behind him and he has two degrees from San Francisco University. He's been looking into the disappearance of people where he thinks it could be linked to the paranormal and extraterrestrial, and not only in San Francisco's public parks, but also disappearances from Manchester Ship Canal and in York too."

What will be the tone of Harold and Arthur's four evenings of conspiracy theories and cover-ups this week? "We're not making fun of missing people. We treat them with the utmost respect," Fisher is quick to stress.

He already performs comedy spots at The Basement and is "very excited" about doing Harold and Arthur's first live podcasts there. "It's underground, it's by the river and that works to our advantage," he says. "We'll be discussing Bigfoot, big cats, UFOs and giant cosmic ant eaters, and we want the audience to feel somewhere between nervous and awakened, where they can learn something and question 'What if?'."

York Press:

Kirsty Wolff as Kate in Kath, Alice, And? Stibs!

Each night's second show, Kath, Alice And? Stibs!, is written and directed by Photocopy Theatre's Mark Watson, who first staged it as a short play in 2011. "The piece aims to strike a chord with those who suspect we live in a moron-driven society," says Ben Rosenfield, by way of introduction.

Why would anyone obey an idiot, asks Watson. "When the idiot is in charge, of course," replies his 65-minute play, wherein one night's attendance at an adult education class teaches the intrepid pupils more than they ever dreamed of.

Drama tutor Justin will bring new meaning to their lives as he reveals amazing techniques and unconventional skills, but is the reward of self-discovery enough to justify the method? "No. It is not," suggests Watson. "The message is clear: to snatch another's destiny from their faltering grasp, all you need is unnatural self-confidence."

James Swanton will play Justin, joined in the cast by Kirsty Wolff, Carl Bunstead, Serena Redshaw and Lee Gemmell. "The play is linguistically dexterous, extravagant, surprising and at times very, very disturbing," says James. "If there's a through-style to Mark's writing, it's a demonic love child of Alan Bennett and Joe Orton.

"On the one hand, there's a lovely Alan Bennett ability to bring out the mundane, everyday detail, with characters discussing their northern heritage. On the other, there's a sort of surrealism, casually worn and thrown away, like in Orton's plays, so Mark's play is both rather absurd in its style of presentation but also anchored by his attention to the mundane."

James is amused by a parallel between dictatorial drama tutor Justin's behaviour and the conduct of Mark Watson in the director's chair. "As Mark is directing the production, there's a natural mirror with the play in our rehearsals, being trapped with the benevolent dictator that is Mark, so that's proving fruitful, stimulating our imaginations!"

Procter Goblins present Oh No! Not This, featuring This Time It Lives! and Kath, Alice And? Stibs!, at The Basement, City Screen, York, tonight until Sunday, 7.30pm nightly. The brace of shows will suit audiences aged 15 upwards. Tickets are available at £10, concessions £8, from the City Screen box office or thebasementyork.co.uk/blank-cf5i