THE sound of the Lancastrian accent is music to the ears of Bolton actor Matt Prendergast who is back up north as he takes to the stage for a visually dramatic critically acclaimed adaptation of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness.

The former Canon Slade student, is on tour with the internationally renowend heatre company, imitating the dog, in a bold retelling of the novel which transforms the classic into a graphic novel style road movie, blending cinema and theatre.

Currently in York, the production will open at The Lowry on April 16.

"It's great to hear a Lancastrian accent," said Matt, "The Lowry is a great space to perform in and I have family up here and it just feels just so welcoming.

"I'm lucky I get to play at The Lowry every five years and it is lovely to be back."

He added: "In this production we have reversed the journey which ends in London and we have a female protagonist.

"We started working on this production a year ago, and we are seeing people who have studied the book in school and not read it for many years coming to see it, people who are fans of the novel as well as a younger audience who like digital theatre, and film fans ­— we have included clips of Apocalypse Now."

The theatre company known for its unique cinematic style, blending live performance and live film to tell stories in gripping, innovative new ways, has received critically-acclaimed reviews for its production.

Using green screen, video and live actors the show is described as a multi-sensory experience following private detective Marlow, now an African woman, on her journey across a post-apocalyptic Europe, searching out the leader of one of the many autonomous camps that have sprung up after a devastating war.

Said Matt the themes of the novel are as relevant today.

Written more than 100 years ago, amid the optimism at the turn of a new century, Heart of Darkness, which explored the journey of Conrad’s narrator Charles Marlow travelling up the Congo river into the Congo Free State in the heart of Africa, is described as "a tale of lies and brutal greed and of the dark heart which beats within us all".

Now retold as a journey of a Congolese woman through war torn Europe, the play explores a forsaken landscape lost to the destructive lust for power and emerges say producers "as a tale absolutely for our time".

Negotiating race, gender and the themes of exploitation, violence and nationalism, the production is said to be a searing parable for our times ­— created at a moment when versions of Britain’s colonial past seems to be being held up as a golden era and when our relationship to Europe is being severely tested

Later this year, Guardians, a film in which he stars, in a role especially written for him by long-time friend and award winning screenwriter Mark A. C. Brown, will be on general release later this year after it finishes showing at festivals.

Heart of Darkness runs until April 18 at the theatre in Salford Quays.