A one-man puppet musical that is set during a zombie outbreak is premiering in Bridport.

The musical, titled Do Zombies Dream of Undead Sheep is showing at the Lyric Theatre on Barrack Street and is written and performed by local John Butler.

The show combines live performance, projected animations and backing tracks which sees John play all the parts.

John has described this work 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 at the Woodman pub in Bridport, where he had chosen an old story ending with an animated corpse.

His co-organiser, Rose, was disappointed that John ‘wasn’t writing a cheerful ukulele zombie song to accompany it’- and so set about the challenge of writing one.

Thinking that the song sounded like a number from a musical, John said: “I’m going to have to write the rest of the musical now - aren’t I?”

In 2016, John played a ukulele-playing strongman flea in Flea! – the Ukulele Opera, in Bridport. The opera was written by Sally Vaughan and Andrew Dickson, directed by Niki McCretton, the owner and artistic director of the Lyric Theatre.

Prior to the pandemic, the Lyric regularly hosted high quality, innovative theatre and is now beginning a new program of performances.

John said: “I’m so excited to be part of the Lyric’s revival. I’ve seen many inspiring shows at the Lyric and hope I can live up to their high standards”.

Niki McCretton said: "When John asked if he could perform his show here, we said 'Yes - it has to be here!’".

John grew up watching Peter Firmin and Oliver Postgate’s simple animations in Ivor the Engine and Noggin the Nog, and reading books illustrated by Quentin Blake. He says these are strong influences on his animation style, only with added horror.

The show looks to be drawing attention as early bird tickets for the performance are sold out.

Do Zombies Dream of Undead Sheep premieres at The Lyric Theatre, Bridport, at 7.30pm on Saturday, November 18.

Tickets are £10 and can be purchased online at: www.ticketsource.co.uk/thewoodlouse