Review by Devan Marr
60 min | Comedy | Mature
What would fringe be if there wasn’t at least one zombie play? Luckily Die, Zombie. Die! provides us with more zombies than you can shake a baseball bat at. Holy large cast, batman! At 17 or so members, I think Die, Zombie. Die! probably wins the award for the largest cast this year.
Set in a world where zombies have fought to gain their civil rights and co-exist peacefully with humans, this episode of the zombie chronicles confronts us with what happens when a mysterious killer goes on a rampage to make the undead, dead. Somewhere between a film-noire and a slapstick comedy, DZD certainly has its funny moments. The show opens on a classic Dick Tracey character berating some zombie workers for a shoddy wallpapering job. He meets the daughter of Zelda the zombie slayer, an old friend. She’s come to get help to clear her mother’s name. Her mother is the main suspect in this recent wave of serial killings. What follows is the first of MANY double entendre jokes involving wieners, melons, and pigs in a blanket.
While it’s funny at first, it gets a little old by the end. Full disclosure: this was my fourth play of the day so maybe I was just tired, but as a whole I found Die, Zombie. Die! to be just too over the top for me. An hour of puns and quick one liners definitely had some people in the audience cackling with laughter but it just didn’t do it for me on the whole.
A nice touch by the company was using the zombies as the set. In every scene zombies made up walls, front desks, etc, which the other characters worked around. It was a fun idea which could have even gone a little bit further. The cast still used regular tables and chairs in some scenes which originally left me confused as to why some of the zombies were in oddly contorted shapes (Hint: a front desk).
While the various actors played their roles well, I feel like a special mention should be made to David Brown who assumed the role of detective, maitre’D and brothel captain. Although all the acting was meant to be a little over the top, his acting still felt spot on. With a quick change of the hat, he would always get a laugh, even from me.
So in the end, Die, Zombie. Die! is a fun, silly, adventure into a parallel world where we try to get along with our zombie brethren. As a large cast show it’s a nice change of pace from your usually two handers, and it is worth a watch. I just wouldn’t say it needs to make it onto your ‘must see’ list.
Die, Zombie. Die! is playing at Academic Hall on Friday the 21st at 9:30; Saturday the 22nd at 6pm; Monday the 24th at 6:30pm; Friday the 28th at 8:30; and Saturday the 29th at 9:30. TIckets are $10.
