Land of the Dead Preview
CSU Cauldron
When asked about the zombie plague of 1599, what is the
first thing that comes to mind? If your answer is ‘huh’ or some derivative
thereof, you must have been skipping history class that day or haven’t been
reading the interwebs we’ve all come to depend so greatly on. Coming soon to
the Brooks Theatre, a part of The Cleveland Playhouse, is the ‘true and
accurate account of the zombie plague of 1599’ as transcribed by John Heimbuch
and directed by Dusten Welch, William
Shakespeare’s the Land of the Dead, as brought to you by the Cleveland
Shakespeare Festival. This account is
a fundraiser to benefit the Festival’s FREE Summer Season of Othello and Love’s Labours Lost and runs the weekends of October 15th, 16th, and 17th, and October 29th,
30th, and 31st (8pm Fridays/Saturdays, 3pm Sundays) at the Brooks Theater in
the Cleveland Play House. Tickets are
$12, with $10 prices for students and seniors. For more information or to reserve
tickets email tickets@cleveshakes.org.
Tickets may also be purchased at the door and parking is $8.00 in the Cleveland
Playhouse lot.
Recently I was
fortunate enough to sit down with Dusten Welch, the director. He directed this
show last year, and is reprising the same position again this year, along with
upwards of 75% of the cast. While the show was great last year, he and the cast
and crew have made a few notable improvements; they have included more blood in
the fight scenes (without the need for a splash zone), have included a view of
the zombies wreaking havoc outside the crumbling walls of the world-renowned
Globe Theatre, put more work into the fight choreography and even included a
‘never before seen on stage zombie death’ he was vehemently excited and tight
lipped about. He did assure me that all of the fights would be both fully
believable and safe as to not scar any cast member, leaving them the very
limited casting opportunity of ‘the pirate’ or ‘grizzled veteran’ for the rest
of their acting career.
When asked about the preparation for directing this show, he chuckled
and started listing not only zombie movies (Shaun
of the Dead, Zombieland, both 28 Days & Weeks Later, Dead Snow, etc.)
but also Shakespearean movies (Shakespeare
in Love and Romeo & Juliet) as to be well versed from both canons of
work that went into revealing this account. He also held zombie rehearsals so
the actors playing zombies had ample opportunity to get into character as undead
flesh hungry killing machines. He went on to say that he would not have ‘fast
zombies’ or ‘slow zombies’ or even ‘poor Spanish/African zombies’ (sorry
Resident Evil series…), but his zombies would have two states; the first of
which is a wandering/ambling state and the second of which is a more focused
state, whether they are focused on yet-to-be consumed flesh or merely
distractions.
When asked what he hoped to achieve with this show, his answer was
simple; he was not looking to make any statement, political or otherwise. He
was putting this show on so the audience could come relax for a night
surrounded by people who have a genuine love for Shakespeare or zombies or both
and have as good a time being a part of such a great show, both as a standalone
piece of theatre and as a way to benefit the vast numbers of people who come
out to see Cleveland Shakespeare Festivals FREE summer shows and to keep those
shows FREE. It is very easy to get excited to be a small part of such an
endeavor when the director talks with the joy and passion that was evident
during our interview.
What more can you ask for on a Saturday night in October? An evening
of laughs to benefit a great local cause (for less than the cost of two tickets
to a movie or two drinks) in keeping with the Halloween season we all enjoy and
continue to hope to enjoy as childishly now as we all grow. Guys, if you find
or are dating a woman eager to join you for this show, keep her around as long
as possible. She is truly awesome.
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