Preview by Marjorie H Morgan
23 January 2020
imitating the dog, in conjunction with Leeds Playhouse are co-producing an exciting piece of new theatre, this production, Night of the Living Dead – Remix is exactly what theatre in 2020 should be about: storytelling, with an edge.
imitating the dog raise the intellectual bar for audiences with their new work as they seamlessly integrate digital technology with live performance.
Night of the Living Dead – Remix is not mimicry of the original film, George Romero’s 1968 Night of the Living Dead, however imitating the dog are using all of the 1,076 shots of the 1968 film and the actors (Laura Atherton, Morgan Bailey, Luke Bigg, Will Holstead, Morven Macbeth, Matt Prendergast, and Adela Rajnović) adeptly and simultaneously reproduce every scene on stage and on a parallel screen. This 96 minute journey blends the black and white film of the 1960’s with the multi-coloured three dimensional staging of the live action that requires a great deal of technical action from both the actors on stage and the technicians in the box.
Night of the Living Dead – Remix is challenging theatre, full of unusual visual and staging textures; it also includes a new atmospheric soundtrack from composer James Hamilton.
Image © Everyman Playhouse
The previous offering from imitating the dog, Heart of Darkness (2018), touched on the brilliance that awaits the audience at each performance of Night of the Living Dead – Remix. In an odd way, I envy those who will experience any new production from imitating the dog for the first time, but then I also feel joy because I know that they, like me, will be so entranced by the production that they will visit multiple times to enjoy different depths, and the many substantial layers of the show.
imitating the dog, under the creative leadership of Co-Artistic Directors: Andrew Quick, Pete Brooks, and Simon Wainwright have created a concept piece of theatre that will stay with you long after you leave the theatre as the multi-dimensional action will replay in your mind as it does on the stage.
Night of the Living Dead (1968) was a film apt for its time when social transitions were persistently violent, Night of the Living Dead – Remix is a family story, a political story, a social story, and a horror story that focuses on the monsters that assail us all as we stand on the cusp of a new decade in the 21st century. Don’t miss it.
It will commence its run at the Leeds Playhouse on 24 January – 15 February before beginning the national tour with the first stop at the Liverpool Playhouse 18-22 February.
http://www.imitatingthedog.co.uk/night-of-the-living-dead-remix/