A living room ambience is successfully created in the ‘common room’ space at the Omnibus Theatre – if my memory serves me correctly, it used to be the venue’s bar area. My notebook stayed unopened on my lap: I thought it was better to stay conspicuous in a show that was about a theatre critic. Well, it was also about vampires – and it is they who, in a roundabout way, give the unnamed critic (Nick Danan) a new lease of life. His job was, in a sense, ‘killing’ (inverted commas very much mine) him – frustrated at the apparent lack of quality in theatrical productions, he developed a reputation for filing negative reviews, and with each press night, a cycle of being dismissive of the creative efforts of other people continued.
The play’s script is quick to acknowledge doubts and questions members of the audience might have with regards to the credibility of the plotline. This being a monologue and a recollection of previous events, it was all exposition. Danan had a very engaging delivery style, and the direct addresses to the audience helped to maintain interest. The show is not simply overly reliant but totally reliant on the critic’s perspective on what happened, and rather like a review (including this one, indeed), one is inclined to think that the entire show is one subjective opinion out of a potentially infinite number.
The pressure, I suppose, is off, at least with regards to the credibility of what was said. Pressure on the critic, however, remains, even as it changes, as his new role, as it were, having walked away from his previous personal and professional lives, is to provide supplies for the vampires he now works under (quite how he got this gig would be giving too much away). This, in essence, means going out into the streets of London, and persuading people one way or another to attend parties at wherever it is the vampires live. The partygoers, once in a sufficiently inebriated state, have their blood sucked out of them, y’see.
The subtle nature of the storytelling is unusual for what could be construed as a horror story, and the warm and cosy feel of the venue (or, for those who would rather I told it like it was, an overly hot and stuffy room) meant there were patrons who entered the land of nod. For those who can stick it out, however, there’s much to be gained in listening to this subversive tale. And it really was a story very delicately delivered – some noise bleed from outside, nothing in any way unusual for a busy London suburb, was more noticeable than it would have been in a louder show.
There’s not a huge amount to look at (could this have been a radio play?) – I don’t think there was as much as a costume change, unless you had an urge to clutch at straws and count Danan rolling up his sleeves as one. But there’s much food for thought in this gloriously poetic, bittersweet and perceptive story.
Review by Chris Omaweng
When I was a boy, I was afraid of the dark… What was there. And maybe one of the things I thought was there was vampires…
A jaded and cynical Dublin theatre critic falls for a beautiful young actress. His obsession and desires lead him to abandon his life and strike an irreversible bargain with a coven of modern-day vampires. They offer him a tantalising new life – his part of the bargain is to help them feed their bloodlust.
CAST
The Critic – Nick Danan
CREATIVE
Writer – Conor McPherson
Director – Ed Hulme
Designer – Paul Lloyd
Lighting Design – Amy Daniels
Strange Fish Theatre Company presents
ST NICHOLAS
Omnibus Theatre, 1 Clapham Common North Side, London SW4 0QW
17 December 2024 to 5 January 2025
