Warning: this is not for the faint of heart.
Imagine a world where complete annihilation is certain unless a small group of citizens can rescue a missing government operative and help him track down and stop a vampiric psychopath responsible for the sudden appearance of murderous zombie-vampire mutants.
That’s the world Burnaby resident and artistic director Andy Thompson has created in the Virtual Stage’s production The Zombie Syndrome: Dead In The Waterrunning now until Halloween on Granville Island.
“The Zombie Syndrome interactive theatre adventure series has a premise that the world is going to hell due to a zombie apocalypse, and the audience is forced to solve that problem in some way,” Thompson said.
This is the fifth year in a row the Virtual Stage has produced its zombie-themed theatre production for Halloween. Each year, Thompson and his team come up with a new narrative for the show, which takes audiences to seven different sites in Vancouver as part of the mission. (There’s even a boat ride included.)
“It’s a play that’s very unique in how it’s executed. It’s half scripted and half improvised – the improvised portion comes from the audience. We put them right in the middle of the circumstance and expect them to make decisions in terms of how they interact with the actors and what actors they take,” Thompson explained.
He describes it as a “choose-your-own-adventure” play where the audience drives the narrative and can affect what direction it takes depending on what decisions they make. There are several different endings, too, Thompson noted, adding, however, there is only one right ending.
“All the other ones are failures – they die or the world goes to hell in a hand basket,” he laughed.
The audience will also be scored on how well they do and they can compare that to other audience teams. Spectators are also given roles before they head off on their adventure, including assassin, hypnotist, acrobat, priest and more, Thompson said.
Letting the audience control the story is at times a struggle against for the artistic director, but it’s worth it, according to Thompson.
“It’s ambitious,” he said. “The thing that I’m heartened by is the audience response, but believe me, it’s not easy to rehearse without the lead performer present.”
New this year is the use of iBeacons, an Apple product that can send messages and information to smartphones using Bluetooth technology. The content itself is received by a free app called neartuit, which audience members are asked to download before the show. Neartuit allows the actors and crew to send participants different clues, directions and info throughout the play.
The Zombie Syndrome: Dead In The Water runs every night this month except Mondays and wraps up with a special show on Halloween.
Shows start at 6:30 and run every 30 minutes until 8:30 p.m.
Folks should come prepared for the elements, as the show runs rain or shine, and be sure to wear comfortable shoes.
For more information about the show or to buy tickets, go to thevirtualstage.org/zombies.
