“Every cast member brought a new energy to the stage”
Comedies and horrors are really challenging genres to do right and when you mix them together to create a horror-comedy there is a lot of space for it to go wrong. But, in saying that I felt ecstatic that Waking the Walking Dead was a brilliant performance. I thoroughly enjoyed this production from start to end.
Waking the Walking Dead grabbed you from the moment you entered the space. Stuart Vincent is evidently a very talented director. Vincent directed a wonderful cast and achieved a really enjoyable performance – a joy to experience.
With a colourful palette of characters, Vincent and the cast transported us into their wacky world. What was really enjoyable was that this production takes the zombie apocalypse story but brings us the characters you don’t normally see in this kind of tale.
I really loved that the protagonists were Martin; a gay maths teacher played by Steven Bush and his student played by Sarah Day. Together Steven and Sarah were a dynamic duo. From the moment Steven boldly burst through a door to enter on the stage I was sold. Both actors throughout the piece bounced off each other; in fact, the whole cast really worked as an ensemble with Joe Johnsey and Elizabeth Lloyd Raines adding their own dilemma and chaos as their characters.
Every cast member brought a new energy to the stage. Joe Johnsey as the dashing ‘military’ trickster added a fun chaotic energy to his scenes. His character was brilliantly written and performed. On the other hand, whilst I commend Elizabeth Lloyd Raines for committing and delivering a strong performance as the crazy survival girl; the writing of this character was a bit off for me. There were points which I couldn’t connect to her existing within this world. However, as the character began to become a bit less like she was on a serious episode, and became more human, I started to warm more to her.
Of course, the play’s success was aided by the simple but effective set by Francis White. We were ably to transported into this world by having a few pieces of newspaper spread throughout and a sofa centre stage. Minimalistic but it worked. Furthermore, the costume added little character moments that further immersed me into the action.
The only aspect of the performance that I felt let down the smoothness of the piece, was the blackouts between scenes. I think the writer and director should explore how they can get the play to flow without having to rely on them. With less blackouts I think it would have added an extra layer to this piece.
Nevertheless, silly, imaginative and fun, Waking the Walking Dead really tickled my feathers. Please keep making more horror-comedies as you all have a talent for it.
“performances ranging from peculiar to haunting, with some humour thrown in for good measure”
Nothing says Monday night quite like sitting in an upstairs pub theatre complete with a temperamental smoke machine, listening to some good old spooky stories and being slightly creeped out by a selection of small dolls. Blackshaw Theatre’s ‘Scare Slam’ featured six performances ranging from peculiar to haunting, with some humour thrown in for good measure.
One of my favourite performances was ‘The Fatberg of Whitechapel’, written and performed by fellow northeasterner, Reece Connolly. A piece of advice – don’t listen to this one if you’re feeling at all queasy, as it is about a growing mass of filth, sewage and general horribleness growing underneath the London streets. Even worse, this fatberg is given a voice, a personality – it threatens to take over the city and then … the world!
Connolly’s clever rhyme and eye for detail (he doesn’t miss out a single thing that could be flushed away, and we’re talking everything from discarded wet wipes to used condoms), ensures that the audience will remember this story next time they dispose of well, anything.
A stark contrast to this was a tale written and told by Ed Hartland titled ‘Murder of Crows’ which was quite literally about him murdering a crow and then being a victim of their revenge. Listening to Ed perform this piece was captivating as during his gory confession of stamping a crow to death, you felt as though you had caught him in the act. He didn’t mean to do it. Promise.
