Yup, the clean up was a bitch in the end.
The amount of fake blood we left in the Watergate Theatre was fairly disgusting. Then again, when you’re performing the Irish stage debut of Night Of The Living Dead you’re going to have to expect a little bit of a mess. And what a glorious mess it was. 5 nights of zombie slaying and apocalyptic destruction as our 20 strong cast hit the stage with serious force every night.
All in all, it was a blast. We got the best audiences that we’ve ever had for any of our shows to date which was a great feeling. The place was really buzzing and it was so good to see so many people enjoy a piece of theatre like that. It wasn’t to everyone’s taste but that’s par for the course with anything that mixes horror, comedy and any amount of social commentary. It was great to see that the huge promo campaign we undertook for the show paid off. After all that new content we generated, it would have been a shame if it didn’t. Actually no, it would just have sucked. But hey, someone is paying attention anyway so that’s good!
The year I spent working on this went so damn quick… it’s insane really. The post show blues on a show of this scale are going to be a right bastard. I only wish we were in a position to tour Night Of The Living Dead. I’m confident that we have a fantastic show and with the right opportunities and support we could really have an amazing piece of Irish theatre that a wide audience can see. Unfortunately, the opportunities and support aren’t in place right now and so it’s back to the drawing board with the show.If you know of any wealthy patrons who love horror plays, send ’em our way.
I’m absolutely honoured and privilged to work with such an amazing team over the past couple of months. Between the cast and crew, I really couldn’t have had a better, more dedicated hard working bunch of people to work with. Particular props must go to my co-writer Connie Walsh who busted her ass on this show for over a year and did a sterling amount of work on making this play. The girl’s got talent and I can’t wait to see what she cooks up next.
So that’s Night Of The Living Dead put to bed for the moment at least. Thanks to everyone who came, funded and supported this show. It means the world to me and to everyone in the comedy. Most of all, it lets us keep on doing what we do. Phantasm is opening up at Abhainn Rí this week so there’s definitely no rest for my wickedness.
These shows, they won’t stay dead…
Photos by Ross Costigan (I stole his zombie cameo shtick)
