Opening Night of the Living Dead

In this story of a theatre taken over by zombies, the action is split between a sound and lighting booth where two friends discuss the dull working life of the techie - and the stage below, where a production of Romeo and Juliet is clumsily running its course. Joe, a techie with a heart of gold, has fallen for the beautiful and unattainable Juliet, played by a sweet career-driven girl named Lydia. As the undead gradually devour the entire cast, it becomes clear that the Shakespearean tragedy unfolding on-stage will play out against the altogether real tragedy of complete human zombification.

The script is the best thing about this performance. The dialogue is real and unpretentious, and the characters’ desires are believable. The ‘play within the play’ is an effective means of adding a layer of complexity—and cleverness—to what would otherwise be a somewhat contrived plotline. Joe’s delivery of Romeo’s final speech ("a dateless bargain to engrossing death!") as he awaits his coming life-in-death is quite excellent, and strangely moving. The periods of ‘zombie action’ where the characters, having undergone the processes of undeath, run around and shriek with the Kaiser Chiefs playing in the background, are less satisfying.

For the most part, however, this is a decent piece of small scale theatre. Modest companies such as this abound at the Fringe, but few can make so deft a show from so little.