Vampire Hospital Waiting Room
Arts Theatre
11th November
Arts Theatre
3 Stars
With all the recent talk of strikes in the NHS, my biggest worry is that Vampire Hospital Waiting Room might give Jeremy Hunt some ideas. The show has come to the West End fresh from a successful run at the Edinburgh Fringe, where it received positive reviews and even a thumbs up from comic Jo Brand.
There was a Fringe atmosphere at the Arts Theatre, with intimate seating and a later 10pm start time. The play tells the story of handsome billionaire Arty Baldwin, who is left wheelchair-bound and comatose after a car crash. The bizarre and eccentric Dr. Bloom becomes convinced Arty is the Vampire Lord and sets about awakening his new master. Arty is joined at his bedside by his doting secretary and his evil wife (who wants to see him meet his maker so she can claim his fortune).
It’s a very silly plot but the production gives it a ‘Little Shop of Horrors’ style cultish sheen that is charming and enjoyable. The script is generally funny, with some nice stagey in-jokes (talk of a ‘murder off stage’ and a seemingly endless scene change) as well as some sharp dialogue. It’s a very short play (hence the short review) but it has enough energy and pace that it leaves you wanting more.
The songs are rather less successful, seeming to lack the wittiness and wackiness of the spoken parts. It’s not helped by the fact that the singing ability within the cast is highly inconsistent, with only three of them (Abby Jackson, Martin MacLennan and Roz Ford) possessing the sort of voices that can make a big number their own.
Luckily the acting is consistently strong; Joe McArdle is a wonderfully creepy and hilarious doctor. I suspected he had a comedy background based on his ability to nail a punchline – closer inspection proves that indeed the case. Abby Jackson was a perfect sidekick as the nurse, possessing the aforementioned brilliant singing voice and a sort of Carry On cheeky humour that felt straight out of a B-movie.
It seemed to be a primarily Scottish cast and sometimes accents would get lost somewhere over Hadrian’s Wall or the Atlantic, particularly Craig Methven as the American Arty. There was excellent comic relief from John Rushton as an unsettling priest and Martin MacLennan as the sort of incoherent drunk you will find in any hospital waiting room.
It is easy to see why Vampire Hospital Waiting Room was such a hit at the Fringe; it has a quirky cultish charm that makes it stand out from the crowd. It’s certainly not polished; at times it feels a bit like watching some mates messing around, but that is also a large part of its appeal.
Vampire Hospital Waiting Room runs at Arts Theatre until 21 November 2015
