The Nest (Granville Island: 1398 Cartwright Street) to October 18, 2026
Tickets $35 from glitchtheatre.ca or jeffy.com
Posted October 9, 2026
If queer zombies are what it takes to get younger bums in theatre seats, bring it on. The Nest, an intimate studio theatre on the third floor of Festival House – there’s an elevator – was buzzing with far fewer than the usual number of the grey and white-haired set (of which I am one). Don’t let the youthful audience deter you if you’re over sixty: Vascular Necrosis, written by Jordyn Wood, directed by Daniela Atiencia and co-produced by Touchstone Theatre and glitch theatre, looks and sounds fantastic and actually raises some interesting questions that transcend zombies if you’re not into that stuff which I am not.
But set design by Paula Viitanen Aldazosa grabs you right away: stage left features a bank of maybe fifteen old-style tv screens on which run constantly changing, simultaneous images including a news reporter and shots of some kind of apocalypse. Neon style lights rim the performance area and a free-form neon sign is mounted above the TVs. It all looks very neon-blue cool. Soundscape by David Mesiha includes everything from electronic on up, and lighting design by Jonathan Kim – especially in the ghoulish bits (and there are a few) – keeps the action moving from hospital bed, to couch, hospital bed, and back to couch. There’s a swimming scene behind sheets of clear plastic that’s terrific in a totally not Cirque du Soleil way. And, oh yes, there’s some sexy stuff on that couch.
The story and it’s so weird I could be wrong: Penelope (Gabrielle Nebrida-Pepin) has overdosed and died, leaving her fiancée Charlie (Evelyn Chew) heartbroken. Pen was buried in the local cemetery so, yes, she’s really dead. Good thing she wasn’t cremated because someone has come up with a way of bringing the dead back to life. For some years she was a flesh-eating zombie but now, five years,10 months and 4 days later, Pen has been ‘de-necrotized’ and released back into the arms of her lesbian lover Charlie. She’s on a strict regime of medication and, apparently, if she dies again, it’s curtains. She also has to attend group therapy with other de-necrotized souls, one of which is the wild, crazy and completely horny lesbian Bela (Marguerite Hanna). Soon we have an unhappy triangle: Penelope, Charlie and Bela. And we’re back in a world I understand – sort of.
Penelope tries to fit back into her social circle but, let’s face it, she’s been a zombie and has eaten people, maybe some of her old friends and relatives. We’ve all probably torn strips off someone sometime but, like, not really. She’s definitely viewed with apprehension bordering on fear. If she hasn’t taken her meds, is she likely to rip your throat out when she leans in for a hug? It worries her, too. Who and how many people did she eat? Are the meds really, really working?
Now there’s a past worth worrying about. And here’s where Vascular Necrosis touched a reality note for the realist that I am: who among us hasn’t something – however insignificant – in our past that they we’re not proud of? And how do we move on? I’ve never found an edit button, have you?
Funny, witty and entertaining as Vascular Necrosis is, it’s a little tonally awkward, blending realism and surrealism all wrapped up in comedy with a bit of cliché thrown in for good measure: the oily, overly caring doctor, the sort of surly nurse. On the realistic side of the scale, we have Charlie, Pen and Bela caught in a very real, jealous triangle. But Nebrida-Pepin (Penelope), Chew (Charlie), Hanna (Bela) and Brynna Drummond and Terrence Zhou playing various characters are totally committed to this absolutely out-there script. Hanna, particularly, seems wired in an all-over-the-place, adrenaline-high way. As an aside, costumer designer Emily Friesen puts Hanna in a variety of so-cool crop tops, mesh shirts, baggy pants and Cherry Docs.
They all seem to be having the time of their life and so did the opening night audience with whoops and shrieks. If you’re going to frame a narrative as a zombie story, playwright Wood has done a fine job. Terrific production.