The Revenants
Ryan Dolan and Brian Amidei. Photo by Kirstie Shanley
Written by Chicago author Scott Barsotti, the Revenants is the story of two couples stranded in a basement in an unnamed city during the zombie apocalypse. But Joe (played by Brian Amidei) and Molly (played by Laura Hooper) have already been bitten and turned into zombies, so their respective spouses, Karen (Jenny Strubin) and Gary (Ryan Dolan) keep them chained to a pipe in the floor.
Gary and Karen try to figure out whether or not there is anything left of their -ahem – deader halves, and at the same time, try to survive with little food and few options.
I saw the preview showing last night at the small, 40-seat, Angel Island Theatre on North Sheridan Road. The intimate space was just right to impress on viewers the claustrophobic nature of being stuck in a basement with a couple of the living dead for company. The story was strong, but the 80-minute running time probably could have been shortened by ten minutes and not have suffered too much.
The actors were good, but, as with many dress-rehearsal/preview shows, the performances were a little uneven, and I detected a couple of flubbed lines. Frankly, it wasn’t a big deal, though. Dolan’s performance felt natural and good, and Strubin could summon tears on cue, which certainly heightened the impact of her somewhat unstable character. As for the zombies … well, they moaned a lot. Must have been pretty easy to learn those lines.
The set looked good, and the sound design was excellent. The makeup and blood effects were well implemented, and when shots rang out in a space that small, they had quite a visceral effect.
Most importantly, the ending was strong, and followed the prime directive of horror — make sure everyone is dead or insane. Very satisfying.
The Revenants is the newest play produced by Chicago horror company WildClaw Theatre. Their previous productions included a stage version of Lovecraft’s Dreams in the Witch House and Arthur Machen’s The Great God Pan, so it’s pretty clear these folks know and love horror. It’s rare to see scary theater, and I really appreciate that these folks are able to pull off high-quality, small scale productions like this. A real treasure.
I’m going to give it four stars. Good acting, great technical proficiency, but in my opinion, the story could have been tweaked a little for more scares and less relationship drama. But that’s just me.
Rating: 
The Revenants opens tonight, and runs through May 24th. Tickets are a $20, and can be bought online here.
Oooh, there’s a trailer video as well, though it doesn’t tell you much about the story…
