William Shakespeare's Land of the Dead Is Brain-Eating, Bloody Fun

To be or not to be a zombie … that is the question of William Shakespeare's Land of the Dead, running through April 23 at Peoria Center for the Performing Arts' McMillin Theater.

The play, part of Theater Works' After Dark series, takes the plague and turns it into a zombie apocalypse, then twists it into a bloody good time.

“The director wanted to bring 1960s horror films like Night of the Living Dead back. This play is in grayscale; the only thing in color is blood, and there is a splash zone with ponchos if needed. It’s fun chaos with some guts too. There’s tons of comedy. It’s a hilarious horror camp show with very spooky elements,” says Luz Navarro, who is playing Kate Braithwaite.

The play is set in Shakespeare's Globe Theater in London, and the character of Kate is the costume person who does all the work backstage.

"She has a motherly role to all the players,” Navarro says. “There’s some talk of her being with Shakespeare (a married man), and possible other affairs.”

Kate is also the one who gets infected first, the zombie who causes the outbreak.

But it’s not all guts and gore.

“There are a lot of laughs and a lot of gasps, and there were parts where the audience teared up," Navarro says.

Angel Lopez, who plays William Shakespeare, says the show appeals to a wide range of audiences.

“It’s a perfect show for someone who has never gone to a play before. ... If they love the spooky and the funny, it’s a wonderful show. In the show, there’s lots of nods to Shakespeare but there’s something for anyone. There’s also nods to horror fans, some funny one-liners ... but people will be surprised how invested they get and how endearing some of these characters will be. I think people — based off audience reactions — are going to be thrilled by the amount of action that happens.”

Playing Shakespeare in a play about zombies is a far cry from Lopez's last performance as Charles Dickens in A Christmas Carol at TheaterWorks in December, but he loves a challenge.

“Shakespeare is very neurotic in this show. He has an antagonist in the show besides the zombies, of course. His authentic storytelling is trampled by other characters in the show. He wants people to understand these are just stories, not who he is as a person,” explains Lopez. “My favorite [part] is Act Three, when all the drama has subsided after the big fight. There’s a nice reconciliation with a friend and foe. There’s some nice emotional acting before the big hurrah at the end of the show. I also like that the cast meshes well — this is really about everyone coming together to tell a story.”

But back to the guts and gore. Navarro recalls one performance in which a young man in the splatter zone took his shoes off to keep them clean, and both she and Lopez are covered in stage blood after each performance, as expected.

“I get sweaty — there’s a lot of movement, fights, et cetera. I'm constantly trying to dab my head with a cloth without ruining my makeup. I’m all sweaty and sticky,” Lopez says.

Neither actor wears a wig, so you can only imagine the aftermath.

“Having to wash off all of the fake blood out of my hair is my least favorite part," Navarro says. “But I really love the part when I get to make my first kill and see the audience reaction when I come back as a zombie.”

So does Shakespeare himself turn into a zombie? You’ll have to find out for yourself. And with tickets for only $40, it won’t kill you to attend… or will it?

William Shakespeare's Land of the Dead continues through Sunday, April 23. Theater Works at Peoria Center for the Performing Arts, 10580 North 83rd Drive, Peoria. Recommended for ages 16 and up. Cost is $40. Call 623-815-7930 or visit the Theater Works website.