Imitating The Dog and Leeds Playhouse in their shot-for-shot remix of Night Of The Living Dead
“THEY’RE coming to get you, Barbara”…
from tomorrow morning at 10am when Imitating The Dog and Leeds Playhouse launch
the online premiere of their hit 2020 co-production of Night Of The Living Dead
– Remix.
In 1968, Night Of The Living Dead started
out as a low-budget George A Romero indie horror movie telling the story of
seven strangers taking refuge from flesh-eating ghouls in an isolated
farmhouse.
Fifty years on, seven performers enter
the stage armed with cameras, a box of props and a rail of costumes. Can they
recreate the ground-breaking film, shot for shot before our eyes, using
whatever they can lay their hands on?
Set
the task of re-enacting 1,076 camera edits in 95 minutes, they face an heroic
struggle. Knowing success demands wit, skill and ingenuity, what could possibly
go wrong?
Imitating The Dog’s poster for their Leeds Playhouse co-production of Night Of The Living Dead – Remix
In their 2020 stage production, Leeds masters of digital theatre Imitating The Dog create a love-song to the cult Sixties’ film in a re-making and re-mixing with a new subtext that attempts to understand the past – the assassinations of JFK, MLK and Robert Kennedy – in order not to have to repeat it.
Staged in the Courtyard at Leeds Playhouse
from January 24 to February 1, their version is in turns humorous, terrifying,
thrilling, thought-provoking and joyous. Above all, in the re-telling, Night Of
The Living Dead – Remix becomes a searing parable for our own complex
times.
Presented by courtesy of Image Ten, Inc, Night Of The Living Dead– Remix can be watched online at imitatingthedog.co.uk/watch from 10am tomorrow (April 17). For a behind-the-scenes video, go https://vimeo.com/386234875.
Night Of The Living Dead – Remix in rehearsal at Leeds Playhouse. All pictures: Ed Waring
INNOVATIVE Leeds company Imitating The Dog
are linking up with Leeds Playhouse for a unique shot-for-shot stage re-creation
of George A. Romero’s 1968 zombie movie Night Of The Living Dead™ “for
today’s theatre audiences”.
Directed by Imitating The Dog’s co-artistic directors Andrew Quick and Pete Brooks, Night Of The Living DeadTM – Remix will run in the Courtyard Theatre from January 24 to February 15 before a British tour.
In 1968, Night Of
The Living Dead started out as a low-budget, independent,
politically charged horror movie, telling the story of seven strangers taking
refuge from flesh-eating ghouls in an isolated farmhouse. As the night draws in, their
situation becomes desperate, hope turns to despair and the picket-fence
American dream is smashed apart.
Fifty years on, seven performers enter
the Courtyard stage armed with cameras, a box of props and a rail of costumes.
Can they recreate the ground-breaking film, shot-for-shot before our eyes,
using whatever they can lay their hands on?
Meeting the challenge of 1,076 edits
in 95 minutes will be a heroic struggle. “Success will require
wit, skill and ingenuity and is by no means guaranteed” for the cast of Laura Atherton; Morgan Bailey; Luke
Bigg; William James Holstead; Morven Macbeth; Matt Prendergast and Adela Rajnović.
“Success will require wit, skill and ingenuity and is by no means guaranteed” : the challenge facing Imitating The Dog and Leeds Playhouse
Playing a key role too will be Quick
and Brooks’s production team of Imitating The Dog’s projection
and video designer Simon Wainwright; designer Laura Hopkins; lighting designer
Andrew Crofts and composer James Hamilton.
George A. Romero’s 1968 film presented
an apocalyptic vision of paranoia, the breakdown of community and the end of
the American dream. In 2020’s stage production, digital theatre practitioners Imitating
The Dog compose a love-song to the cult movie in a re-make and remix that “attempts
to understand the past in order not to have to repeat it”.
The new Leeds-stamped version is in
turns humorous, terrifying, thrilling, thought-provoking and joyous. Above all,
in the retelling, it becomes a searing
parable for our own complex times.
Imitating The Dog’s
Andrew Quick says: “Looking at the state of the world today, it seems so
appropriate that we are going back to this seminal story, the original zombie
movie. Rehearsals have been great fun so far and it’s amazing how scary
and relevant Romero’s Sixties’ vision still seems.”
“A searing parable for our own complex times”: Imitating The Dog and Leeds Playhouse’s co-production of Night Of The Living Dead – Remix
Playhouse artistic director James Brining enthuses:“We’re thrilled to be working with Imitating The Dog for this momentous
project. They’re a fantastic local company who brilliantly fuse together
technology with live action. I can’t wait for us to work with them to be able
to breathe new life into this well-known classic that has been celebrated for
many years.”
Russ Streiner, who
produced and appeared as Johnny in Romero’s film, says: “Before Night Of
The Living Dead™ became the classic film it is, it started as a
collection of ideas and story points; story points that are timeless in their
reflection of the human condition.
“The common link
between [film production company] Image Ten long ago and Imitating The Dog and
Leeds Playhouse today is a genuine love of the productions we present to the
public, and we’re absolutely thrilled
that they have teamed up to present their own authorised fresh and exciting
retelling of the story that began over 50 years ago for us.
“This retelling goes back to the roots
of where ‘Night’ started with experimental ideas and a new imagining of the
story – this time coupled with the dynamic of live actors performing to a live
audience.”
Tickets are on sale on 0113 213 7700 or at leedsplayhouse.org.uk.
The horror, the horror: Imitating The Dog in Heart Of Darkness in 2019
Did you know?
LEEDS company Imitating The Dog have
been making ground-breaking work for theatres and other spaces for 20 years,
fusing live performance with digital technology. Among their past productions
are A Farewell To Arms, Hotel Methuselah and Heart Of Darkness, the latter two
playing York Theatre Royal in 2010 and 2019 respectively.
