Review: VAMPIRE HOSPITAL WAITING ROOM, Above the Arts Theatre, November 10 2015

Doctor Bloom, despite the best efforts of Sexy Nurse to put him to his work, is rather more interested in his occult books than his patients: a yobby, gobby Scotsman and a stabbed and bleeding priest. But when rich American Arty Baldwin arrives comatose from a car crash with his curiously unharmed secretary, the increasingly manic doctor believes that the Vampire Lord has, at last, come to offer him eternal life. Arty's wife soon turns up, but she's more interested in the eternal wealth her husband's death certificate will grant.

It feels like a thinnish premise for a 75-minute long show - and so it proves - but there's still plenty of fun to be had with a young cast who sing well and time jokes perfectly. Indeed with fifteen minutes cut (or fifteen minutes of new material added) this would be a very strong show - and I suspect there's more to come from characters who are all well drawn and all get laughs.

Joe McArdle sings and cackles well as Dr Bloom and could do a lot more with his excellent fourth wall breaking - especially this close to panto season. There's good work too from John Rushton as a stock comic priest who turns out rather differently. Sexy Nurse Abby Jackson isn't really given enough to do, but what she does do, she does well, especially when her impatience breaks through. That Craig Methven er... corpses when trying to keep a straight face as Arty is assailed by the doctor's well-travelled rubber glove is wonderfully funny.

But setting out to sing songs and get giggles while telling an hour long story in a space barely large enough for Arty's coffin, is quite a challenge, so the fact that the audiences has so much fun is a fine testament to the skills of the performers and the engagingly bonkers storyline. Keep an eye on these would-be vampires - they'll rise again, I venture!

Vampire Hospital Waiting Room is at the Above The Arts Theatre until 21 November.