A new comedy, The Highgate Vampire, is drawing on the stranger-than-truth events of the late 1960s and early 1970s, when Highgate cemetery in north London was believed to be terrorised by a vampire. The show, written and performed by James Demain and Alexander Knott, is set as a lecture led by two rival vampire hunters, each trying to claim credit for vanquishing the creature.
The plot mirrors the real-life rivalry between David Farrant and Sean Manchester, who competed to solve the supposed vampire sightings. In the play, Patrick Sheffield (Knott) is a bishop, while Daniel Farringdon (Demain) is a tobacconist turned vampire hunter. They constantly interrupt and undermine each other, even roping in the theatre’s technician, Audrey (Zöe Grain), for sound effects and a musical number.
Directed by Ryan Hutton, the hour-long production is described as sweet meta-theatre that zips along like a sketch. The actors transform into various eyewitnesses, and there are comedic references to Karl Marx, who is buried in Highgate. However, the review notes the show could be both sharper and scarier, with only a few moments – such as a teenage girl’s account of a red-eyed entity – that produce genuine goosebumps.
Despite this, the play is praised as an amusing alternative to a Christmas ghost story, made all the more outrageous by its roots in real events. The reviewer suggests it might be even creepier as a site-specific promenade performance. The Highgate Vampire runs at the Omnibus Theatre in London.
