“A
Night At The Theater: The Tomb Of Count Gangrene”
by
Terrence Cain
Last semester I saw the very first play I had seen since
I was a child in elementary school. For those of you who don't know,
that was some twenty years ago for me so that would mean I was around
nine or so. Anyway, that play was called Sylvia.
It was a fantastic little play put on by Howard College of Big
Spring's acting teacher, Kirk Davidson. It was inventive, it was
funny—and sad—and it gave me a passion for plays that I never
thought I would have. Well I just saw another play this Hallow's Eve
called The Tomb Of Count Gangrene
put on yet again by Howard College's Kirk Davidson.
So let me put a little atmosphere down for you first.
When I walked into the Hall Center For The Arts I was greeted by
numerous attendees who were all waiting in little groups of four or
five to see the play. There were even a few who decided that they'd
get in on the fun by dressing up. I did so a little myself. I wore a
black shirt, slacks and shoes, and a very red tie. The tie kinda has
that paint red look to it that you see in old Hammer horror films
from the 1960s that they want you to think is blood but you know all
too well that it is just paint. Yeah, they hadn't perfected blood
scenes really until the late 1970s.
Okay, so we're all waiting in the front just outside the
play room. As we were all waiting I decided to look down the hall
leading to the play room where I was able to see a white plastic
sheet with blood splatter patterns that looked like they were silk
stained into the plastic. On top of the sheet were some plastic—or
maybe they were made of plaster of paris—bones laying in various
spots all over the plastic sheet. It was laid out like a long rug
waiting for royalty to walk down it. My first thought was; “Finally!
Someone is getting into the holiday spirit and they're not trying to
be all trampy about it!” I'm sorry to say, but Halloween was way
more spooky and frightening when I was growing up. Nowadays all you
see is women dressing up like hookers and men dressing up like
they're at some disco. Yeah, we've definitely have to get back to the
scary side of Halloween, folks.
So as I looked on I saw a big bat hanging from the
ceiling just above the entrance to the hall that leads to the play
room. I also saw one of the ushers who was carrying an old lantern
with a lit candle, which I thought was pretty cool. As they walked us
into the play room some of the actors from the play were at the door
hamming it up for the audience; trying to do their best to get the
crowd all psyched up for the play. As I sat down in the front row I
looked over the painted black set. I loved all the decorations they
had there. From the bloody foot and hand prints on the floor, and
some hand prints on doors and glass, to the stag on the wall covered
in spider webs. It was all fantastically horrifying. I loved the
fireplace as well with the skull inside and the big fat chain going
in a half circle shape in front of the fireplace. Above the set was a
big pinata-like spider hanging from a rope. They even had sheets
covering two sets of one kind of chair. What I mean by that is there
were two chairs that were of the exact same design.
So I'm starting to get
a little psyched up and ready for the spooky and terrifying fun of
this play called The Tomb Of Count
Gangrene. As
the play begins a character named Ghoulardi [played by veteran HC
theater actor, Eric Ochoa] comes onto the set and speaks with a very
gravelly and whinny voice in a dark brown suit, black gloves, and his
face painted gray with black circles around his eyes. You can't have
a dead man tell tales without looking dead, right? He was funny and
great about telling people to shut their cell phones off during the
play; which became a gag in the beginning where they killed a girl
for using her cell phone and walking through their “tomb” as the
called it.
Well as soon as Ghoulardi got going another character
named Mitch [played by Tyler Hall] came in and sliced his stitched
mouth open so that he could talk and ask where his wife Louise was
at. It was all very funny, and I do believe that was intentional do
to the fact that the overall play was very comedic. Soon after two
girls known as Ethel & Gertrude [Billed as the Vampira Twins and
played by April Zavala and another veteran actress, Lindsey Heckler]
who are supposed to be sisters, and looking like Elvira's would be
daughters by the way, come running out and acting all spastic-like
and screaming; “Bodies flying!”, or at least I think so. That
part is honestly a little foggy due to everything else that was going
on.
Well soon after Madame Phatima [played by Courtnie
Smith], a psycho loon gypsy who is blind, comes into the room. The
play really didn't kick off though until after Count Gangrene [played
by Justin Case] came in via his octagonal shaped old style casket.
The role was hammed up pretty good and was played very well. It
reminded me a lot of the old horror hosts who were on local cable
access channels on Saturday nights hosting bad to fairly decent
horror films. So onto the three acts of the play.
Act I: “The Spider” –
This first of three
acts in the entire play was all done in the dark. The point was to
make you feel like you were listening to an old radio show. This act
was adapted from Wyllis Cooper's story called Lights
Out! Spider.
The story was about two guys in the jungle who were looking for
spiders. Well they found one. A very big one. Apparently it was the
size of a dog and was a vicious killer because one of the guys was
eaten up fast followed by the other guy who was eaten alive by the
spider's babies. This first act worked out superbly well. The
voicing, done by Ryan Stockton and Will Cross, was very clear and the
acting was great. I really felt like I was in the jungle with them as
I watched them from afar. The sound effects really set the mood up
right and gave me a chill at how real everything sounded. From
chirping birds, to a soft sounding waterfall, and even bugs that
could be heard buzzing around. This was definitely bumping the play
up a notch from what was already a great start. I also liked the red
pulsing light used to emphasize parts of the act. Very well done for
sure.
Act II: “The Lake” –
The second act was based off of a Ray Bradbury story of
the same name. The story is about a young woman named Sad Sara
[played byAutumn Alton] who tells a tale about her childhood where
she watched a friend of hers drown. It was a very dark and sad story
that had its advantages in making everyone cry, but fell a slight bit
short because they had set up two wireless mics for the two actors in
this particular part of the play. The actress who played Sad Sara
kept walking back and forth from the mic, which made me feel like
someone was constantly turning the volume knob on an old radio up and
down. It was a tad bit irritating honestly. I really think that this
part of the play would have been best suited without mics because you
could hear them talk without them. I think if this play is done up
ever again that they should forego the mics. They really weren't
needed. Great story and acting otherwise.
Act III: “The Witch's Game” –
Again, just as in act
one, this one was played out in the dark to make you feel like you
were listening to an old radio show. This act was also based off
another Ray Bradbury story called The
October Game.
The one thing that somewhat ruined the overall mood of this act for
me was the fact that me being in the front row I was able to see all
the actors behind the black curtain with scripts and flashlights
while they gave their performances. Now I'm sure they weren't even
aware that any of us could see them, but I think they'd have been
better off if they had gone further behind the set so that no one
could see them because seeing them as they were made it somewhat
difficult to delve deep into the imagery that was being set up for
us. It was basically a Simpsons Tree
House Of Horror
kind of story where they talked about what physical things people
would use to tell a horror story. At the end people were being
murdered and dragged off, which was actually being visually used at
the end of the act with flashlights shining on the actors being
dragged around. It was sort of similar to the red pulses we'd be
getting in act one for certain parts of the story. A great ending
even if I could see the behind the scenes part of this final act.
The Program's Design –
Mindy Ralston did a
fantastic job making the program for this play. It looks like an old
comic book, and even had ads on the back of it. The only thing
missing were those phony X-Ray Specs that were supposed to allow you
to see through people's clothing. The layout of the program was great
and very easy to follow. There even some great responses from Count
Gangrene just like Marvel Comics
had with their old soap box portions of their comic books. I loved
the corny nicknames used as well. Like Count Kirk and Mindy “Arson
Enthusiast” Ralston, among many others. It reminded me of all the
goofy nicknames Matt Greoning and his team would use in The
Simpsons for
their Treehouse Of Horror
specials. It really added to the atmosphere.
My Overall Opinion Of The Play –
I thought the play was fantastic from beginning to end.
Nobody goofed up their lines. No one tripped and fell. Everyone
seemed to have a great time, and I actually thought that the comedic
angle was great. I loved Count Gangrene, Ghoulardi, the Vampira
Twins, and Madame Phatima. They added to the quirkiness of the play
that was trying to take a poke and a stab at its self while giving
some great stories. It wasn't a dark and scary play like I had
originally imagined, but that's not a bad thing. I think Howard
College has most definitely got a great acting director in Kirk
Davidson. He knows how to get his actors to perform at their best,
and he knows what stories to tell that capture an audience's
imagination. If you're looking for a great night of fun then go see
one of his plays that he puts on each semester. You'll be
delightfully entertained and you'll have a great time watching up and
coming actors cut their teeth for what is probably their first time
acting.