The score for a play - discovered decades after the death of its renowned author – has been written by a Streatham composer.

Writer, poet and illustrator Mervyn Peake is perhaps best remembered for his Gormenghast series, and illustrating Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland.

But his play, The Cave – described as a dark, inquisitive look at the nature of authority and its effect on the human condition – was discovered 40 years after his death.

Ewen Moore, who has lived in Streatham for 10 years, set the music to the play, which had its world premiere at the Blue Elephant Theatre in Camberwell on Tuesday.

Mr Moore said: “To have the opportunity to work on a previously unproduced play by Mervyn Peake is a real treat.

“I want music to create an atmosphere of not just entering a theatre, but a new world.

“It’s been quite a challenge – the play is so intense.”

Mr Moore, who studied at the London College of Music, has composed scores for numerous theatre productions, most notably The Usual Suspects.

He has also written and composed several musicals including Why Are Clowns? and Children Who Sing Themselves to Sleep Go Mad.

Mr Moore added he acquired inspiration for a potential new musical from the recently closed Caesar’s nightclub in Streatham, which is supposedly haunted by the ghost of Ruth Ellis – the last women to be executed in Britain, and who once worked at the nightclub as a hostess.

In 2008, the Times named Mervyn Peake among its list of the 50 greatest British writers since 1945. Tickets for The Cave – which runs until November 6 – are £12.50, £10 for concessions and £7 for preview.

Contact the box office on 020 7701 0100 or email info@blueelephanttheatre.co.uk for information and tickets.