In addition to The Gryphon and I, attending were The Horror
Film Buff and his wife, The Seamstress; The Giggler; The Green Man and
his fiancee The Linguist; The Goth Grrl, and a woman I met at Faeriecon
and also saw at a Halloween party but for whom I don't yet have a nickname.
As Heimbuch explained in the Q&A afterwards, he wrote the play
in response to a suggestion at a party. Then, he'd spent several months
researching Elizabethan times, Shakespeare's life, zombie movies and,
of course, possible Shakespeare lines to borrow. He wrote the play primarily
in iambic pentameter, just like Shakespeare's plays, with liberal use
of borrowed lines. I spotted many from Hamlet, Romeo & Juliet,
Julius Caesar, and Taming of the Shrew. There were other
references to Midsummer Night's Dream, The Tempest, and the historical
Henry plays.
Heimbuch also alludes to the modern debate about the authorship of
Shakespeare's plays, through a very witty subplot where Sir Francis
Bacon tries to convince Shakespeare to put his name on a new play he's
written, called Falstaff in Love, also known as The Merry
Wives of Windsor.
The entire play takes place on one set, behind the scenes at the Globe
Theater. This also pays homage to the Shakespearean form of staging,
since elaborate scenery was not used in Elizabeth times. The play made
creative use of different levels of the stage. For example, when two
characters were debating whether they were really safe, barricaded in
the Globe, you see a character on the upper level clearly succumbing
to the Affliction.
The play is set in 1599, just after the Globe Theater opened with a
production of Henry V. Some of the players go to a pub to celebrate.
While there, they unfortunately encounter somebody who's Afflicted with
the contagious disease that produces rage and a desire for blood. Sound
familiar, zombie fans?
Of course, as soon as contagion comes into the theater, the audience
knows the company is in danger. Queen Elizabeth also enters the theater
with a skeleton crew, having just escaped across the river, fleeing
ahead of a mass of desperate people. Despite the wise counsel of Bacon,
who seems to have some understanding of the disease, several things
inevitably go wrong so that the situation seems all but hopeless.
If you've never seen anybody fighting off zombies while speaking in
iambic pentameter, you don't know what you're missing. It helped that
the actors made the words come alive as naturally as if they were speaking
in prose. In the Q&A afterwards, I asked the director, Bill Egan,
his secret to balancing the demands of Shakespearean dialogue with action
and comedy. He deferred to Daniel Student, whose portrayal of Shakespeare
was brilliant, bringing him to life as a serious, thoughtful artist
given to dry wit. Student said he looks for the truth in what he's saying.
He said he also paid attention to audience reaction with regard to timing
some of the funny lines.
The simple staging was well suited to the performance, and it never
got boring, despite the confined space. Adding to the drama were the
fascinating relationship between the characters, such as the competitive
relationship between Shakespeare and Bacon (Paul McElwee), who is officious
yet logical. Also entertaining is the relationship between Shakespeare
and Will Kemp (Ryan Walter), a recently-fired dancer who had made the
role of the rowdy, bacchanalian Falstaff famous. Walter portrays him
as a gregarious, self-important actor who believes he can win anyone
over through his charm and talent.
The special effects are fun, as well. It's not often that you go to
a Shakespeare production where the first two rows are given sheets of
plastic and warned to hold them up whenever they see someone who's Afflicted
coming near them. As you might imagine, the production uses a great
deal of artificial blood. It was amusing during the Q&A to watch
one of the company members with a bucket, mopping up the fake blood
while another woman cleaned fake blood off all the prop weapons.
The play is full of humor, based on Shakespearean references as well
as zombie tropes, including using music from famous zombie films like
Army of Darkness. Whether you're a horror fan, a Shakespearean
scholar, or neither, there is plenty in this play to amuse and entertain.
In the Q&A period, audience members asked Heimbuch if he plans
to publish the play and/or have it performed elsewhere. He said he's
interested in both ideas but has had no offers yet. The play debuted
in the Minnesota Fringe Festival, performed by the Walking
Shadow Theater Company, with Heimbuch playing Shakespeare. More
info, plus a YouTube video, are available at the Fringe site here.
Heimbuch also spoke to the current zombie zeitgeist. He said he has
heard that zombie movies tend to thrive while Republicans are in office
for some reason, while Democratic administrations seem to attract vampires.
Seems like we're due for a vampire resurgence, then!
Afterwards, everyone but The Green Man, The Linguist and The Goth Grrl,
walked to a nearby sports bar and had dinner. We got into a lively conversation
over our meal, talking about what we liked about the play. Considering
that I was probably the only true Shakespeare fan at the table, I can
say that the play has something to interest everyone, because we all
agreed we'd liked it.
