Do Zombies Dream of Undead Sleep? by actor John Butler will show at Lighthouse Poole

Dorset-based actor and songwriter John Butler is set to bring his one-man show Do Zombies Dream of Undead Sheep? to Lighthouse Poole.

Billed as a ‘one man one puppet’ musical and visual journey through a zombie outbreak, the show combines live performance, projected animations and backing tracks. It is described by John as “ridiculous, dark, sometimes gruesome, warm, funny and sad”.

The idea for the show came about when John was co-organising a regular storytelling night in Bridport. One month he had chosen an old story which ended with an animated corpse.

When his co-organiser was disappointed there wasn’t a cheerful ukulele zombie song to accompany it, John took it as a challenge to write one. Once written, he realised the half-melodramatic-half-cheerful song sounded like it was from a musical and thought: “I’m going to have to write the rest of it.”

John says: “Things escalated from there. In between my regular work as a sustainable building consultant, I spent evenings and weekends writing and recording the songs, hand-drawing images and animating them to make the films that form the backdrop of the show. Then I had to work out how to make the life-sized puppet that is my co-star, and finally bring the whole lot together to create my first full solo show.”

The show was mostly devised and rehearsed in his spare room, with further rehearsal and development at the Lyric Theatre in Bridport, where the show premiered to a full house.

John added: “There are some tender moments too, among the zombie-related chaos.”

Do Zombies Dream of Undead Sheep? is at Lighthouse, Poole on Friday 7th February at 8pm. The show is recommended for audiences aged 14 and older. Tickets are priced from £16.

For more information and bookings, visit www.lighthousepoole.co.uk