The play that is not about Zombies at all

Jonathan Hall talks to us about his new show for @GM Fringe at The Kings Arms, Salford.

"I need to say that right up front ‘How to Survive a Zombie Apocalypse’ is not actually a play about zombies…

It’s a play about two men, one thirty something, one fifty something, one gay, one straight (ish) who via various climbing walls, hill tops and pubs (and a shared interest in zombie films) develop a relationship of sorts-  and through that find in themselves what they need to face various issues in their lives.

So: less a play about zombies, more a play about relationships in all their complexity.

When I was younger I had very clear ideas about relationships, which usually devolved from whichever book or film I’d just taken in. Gay relationships were like straight ones only with more drugs and not holding hands in public.

Age has shown there’s more- a lot more- to it than that. The years have shown me how relationships (romantic and non-romantic) flare, how they fade, how they end, how they reappear years later- and what they can give you, what they can spur you on to do… it’s a pretty kaleidoscopic subject that defies any simple explanation;  sex (if applicable) is by and large incidental. One thing I can say is relationships certainly don’t in any way follow predictable lines the way that most zombie films do.

And of course now brilliantly thankfully wonderfully- gay people can hold hands- and more- in public.

…whether the play works is another matter.

At the end of the first reading someone looked at me frowning.

“Where were the zombies?” he said."  

Published: 12-Jul-2018: (4965)