An Experimental Director Is Bringing The Simpsons Into The Post-Apocalypse
To quote Homer, “I love legitimate theater.”
Stage adaptations have given us beloved movies like His Girl Friday, Wicked, and West Side Story. The subgenre has also given us Dear Evan Hansen, so it’s a mixed bag. Either way, casual fans may assume that the genre’s output is mostly musicals and Shakespeare, but there’s a surprising amount of experimentation out there, too. Now, one of the most creative directors working today is adapting a theatrical work that takes an iconic piece of pop culture — The Simpsons — and turns it into a post-apocalyptic story of hope and survival.
Playwright Anne Washburn recently announced a film adaptation of her most notable work, Mr. Burns: A Post-Electric Play, directed by Sorry to Bother You director Boots Riley, which Riley confirmed on social media. The three-act play depicts the world after an unspecified apocalyptic event. In Act One, set soon after the apocalypse, a group of survivors gather around a campfire and distract themselves by trying to remember the plot of the Simpsons’ “Cape Feare” episode, in a scene crafted by actually assembling a cast of actors and asking them to recall the show. Then, in Act Two, we jump ahead seven years and follow a troupe of actors as they tour a production of this and other Simpsons stories, Station-Eleven-style.
Boots Riley is developing a feature film adaptation of Mr. Burns: A Post-Electric Play.
Finally, in Act Three, we see what happens after the story spends 75 years traveling through a post-apocalyptic culture. The light-hearted theater piece has morphed into epic tragedy; Simpsons characters are represented through masks, and the actual “Cape Feare” villain, Sideshow Bob, is replaced by Mr. Burns, now an all-encompassing symbol of evil, much like how early theater relied on stock characters.
The play poses an interesting question about modern pop culture: centuries from now, what will be remembered about today? And how will it be remembered? Much as we remember Greek myths, our age could be recalled by our enduring stories of heroes and villains, be that through old episodes of The Simpsons or the sprawling Marvel Cinematic Universe.
In the shorter term, Mr. Burns is a play about theater, so it will be interesting to see how it translates to the screen. But if there’s anyone who can take an abstract concept like this and turn it into a good time at the movies, it’s Boots Riley.
