Three Brothers Theatre continues its tradition of adapting old movies to 21st century plays – and this time it’s going to be scary, said Josh Beadle, the theater’s executive director.
Beadle, who adapted the 1959 Vincent Price movie, “House on Haunted Hill” for the theater last year, has adapted another Price movie, “The Last Man on Earth.” It debuts Oct. 7.
Yes, there’s a Fox series of the same name with a similar premise, but this is Beadle’s interpretation of the 1964 Price movie, based on the book, “I Am Legend,” Richard Matheson’s classic horror novel.
At the heart of the story is a scientist who is trying to find a cure for an epidemic.
He doesn’t find the cure, but for some reason he is immune to the disease’s effects. “It’s one of the first movies that created this staple story,” said Beadle, whose wife, Caroline Beadle, is directing the play.
The scariest thing about the play at Three Brothers will be “the atmosphere and the environment,” Beadle said.
“The entire show will take place in the house of the scientist – and every night, all these vampires come around to his house and are eating on the walls, making noises. The way the show has been set up, the way I’ve written it, we get multiple days in his life. As we get further to nighttime, you hear these noises, and these weird voices, and they crescendo louder and louder as the night goes on. It’s going to be pretty dark.”
In addition, Beadle filmed a scene at Waukegan Beach that will be projected at the beginning of the play showing the scientist and his family having a picnic.
“It’s a flashback scene that leads to the start of the show,” Beadle said.
Beadle first heard of “The Last Man on Earth” from a theater colleague.
“I had heard of it and knew there were movies made based on the book. I checked out the first movie and it’s definitely Vincent Price – a little campy and a little over the top.”
Beadle said he’s taken out the campy factor in the play and worked to bring out the gray areas.
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“Many of the movies based on ‘I Am Legend,’ just give the epidemic story, what he’s going to do, is he going to survive, is he going to die,” Beadle said. In the Price movie, a group of vampire-like creatures have cured themselves and are after the scientist, but there’s also another set of vampire-like creatures with their own devious plans.
“That’s what’s crucial to me in this story. It’s not your black and white, good vs. bad story,” Beadle said. “We’ve got this definite gray area of people changing and becoming something different. It’s not so clear cut on who’s right, who’s wrong, which is much closer to the real world, there’s this great big gray area of what should be done.”
Beadle began working on the adaptation last February and watched the movie over and over.
“You absolutely have to,” he said. “You realize how much you haven’t been paying attention. It’s very easy to forget parts of the story – or lose them just because of your attention wavering.”
Beadle said the play has four main characters and a group of rotating vampires. “The big thing is costuming them, and making sure they look right,” he said. “These vampires look somewhere between a vampire and a zombie.”
One change Beadle made was the age of the daughter. She’s about 6 or 7 in the Price movie, but he made her closer to 13. “We wanted to give that character a little more substance. We wanted to get her on stage and talking. We also have a fantastic young actress, Elizabeth Usher, who’s been in other shows. We wanted to bring her back on stage.”
Sheryl DeVore is a freelance writer.
“The Last Man on Earth”
When: 8 p.m. Oct. 7-29
Where: Three Brothers Theatre, 115 N. Genesee St., Waukegan
Tickets: $15-$20
Information: 224-419-4325; www.3brostheatre.com