Romero’s Living Dead lives again on stage
“We weren’t going to do it unless we had the blessing from the original creators.” CHRISTOPHER HARRISON ON A NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD LIVE
George A. Romero is once again welcoming you to a night of total terror.
A night with the dead who cannot die and seek only to gorge on the tasty flesh of the unlucky inhabitants of rural farmhouses.
No, it’s not another Living Deadsequel, it’s a play. Come April 26, A Night of the Living Dead Live will lurch its way onto the Theatre Passe Muraille stage in the black and white of the1968 genre-defining original film. It will be audienceinteractive (cue lots of screaming), it will be gory (but you won’t leave with bloodstained clothes), and it will also be PG.
The idea for the play came to life two years ago when Hamilton-based filmmakers Christopher Harrison and Phil Pattison decided to put on a small production in their home city.
“We weren’t going to do it unless we had the blessing from the original creators,” said Harrison, who is producing the play along with Pattison and Marty Birthelmer and their company Nictophobia Films.
They ended up meeting with Romero (who now lives in Toronto) and his Night co-creators Russ Streiner and John Russo. All three came on board as executive producers, and the production suddenly became a much bigger deal.
They needed the perfect director — and they found him, says Harrison. Chris Bond, who directed and co-created that other campy horror flick turned hilarious play, Evil Dead: The Musical, signed on as director and co-writer.
The first act of the stage adaptation sticks mostly to the film plot. It’s set in the Pennsylvanian farmhouse, which our hero Ben is desperately trying to turn into a fortress to keep out the legions of radiation-created zombies.
Also inside are the rest of the six original characters — a delirious, shrieking Barbra, married couple Harry and Helen, and their slowly zombifying daughter Karen and teenagers Tom and Judy.
“All your favourite lines are there,” says Harrison. It’s the second act that diverges from the movie and where fans will be surprised and hopefully delighted.
“It really hits the nail on the head for Night fans,” he said. “It kind of answers questions we’ve been asking for years.”
The set, and the still-unnamed cast, will all appear in black and white to mimic the film.
“A reverse Wizard of Oz,” Harrison calls it. “Your world will turn black and white.”
And the production awaits an important seal of approval: Romero has yet to see the play’s final version. “We are very, very excited for him to see it,” Harrison says.