Opening Night of the Living Dead

If the title appeals, the show will delight, given that it delivers exactly what it promises and does so at a breakneck pace, with spot-on comic timing and a great deal of flair.

There's always a danger that shows fitting this profile – snappy title, tiny venue, post-pub timeslot – will be cobbled-together affairs, but writer Joshua Dickinson has woven plenty of smart lines into his very, very silly tale about a production of Romeo and Juliet going from bad to worse as Montagues and Capulets alike are zombified. He's also rather adorable as its love-struck techie hero, Joe.

Director Miles Barden makes a virtue of the small stage by having cast members and marauding zombies dash across it to well-chosen songs by Kaiser Chiefs and The Automatic, although at times things get a little too close for comfort – on review night a rather nasty neck injury sustained by Romeo left several in the front row sprayed with blood.

A version of this review first appeared in The Herald.