Shaun Of The Dead Is Returning, And This Is How
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Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg wrapped up their “Blood and Ice Cream / Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy” last year with the release of The World’s End. For those unfamiliar, the first two thirds of the trilogy were comprised of 2004’s Shaun of the Dead and 2007’s Hot Fuzz. It’s a damn near perfect geeky trilogy, but we were kind of sad to see it wrap up after all those years. Well, now Shaun of the Dead is — appropriately enough — coming back to life in 2015…but not in the form you might expect.
Sadly, we won’t be getting Shaun of the Dead 2 (although I’m actually fine with that since it’s not a film that needs or lends itself to a sequel). What is in the works is a stage adaptation of the zombie comedy, slated for 15 dates in the UK and hopefully a wider run beyond that. Check out a promo for Shaun of the Dead Live below:
The Shaun stage play will follow in the footsteps of the likes of The Rocky Horror Picture Show by handing out “goodie bags” of props and inviting audience participation. And if they don’t find some way to sneak some Cornetto ice cream into that bag, they should have the rights retroactively stripped from them. The show will also clock in at 110 minutes — 10 minutes longer than the film’s original theatrical length — so expect to see elements such as deleted scenes to be incorporated back into the narrative of the play.
Unlike many a theatrical movie adaptation, Shaun of the Dead Live won’t be a musical, although it will incorporate music from the movie. Director Chas Burns says:
It’s not a musical. Between you and I, I can’t abide musicals. It’s a production with tongue-in-cheek songs, with some extra stuff thrown in you won’t see in the film and deleted scenes that were left on the cutting room floor. I have always stated that if I ever see anyone yawning at one of our productions I will call it a day. It’s incredible the interest we’ve had, people have been waiting for it to happen and we’ve been lucky enough to find ourselves with the rights.
What do you think, would you shell out some hard-earned cash to see Shaun of the Dead Live? I think it could definitely lure me out to my local playhouse. If it’s a hit, I’ll be interested to see if we get stage adaptations of Hot Fuzz and The World’s End as well. The latter one especially could work well on the stage, seeing as how it takes place largely in a series of pubs. And once they’re done with those, what the hell, let’s tackle Paul!
