45 and 46 - Yeah, This House is Haunted and Hammer Sandwich

You might have noticed I'm finalising and posting a lot of blog posts at a time! Yes, I have once again fallen behind with blogging my theatrical escapades due to being in a play myself. Only this time it was a double bill for Halloween with the brilliant Breakfast Cat Theatre raising money to rebuild Croydon after the riots. So that is TWO plays. I can't really review these as I was in them and genuinely thought everyone was brilliant. So here are some photos!

Yeah, this house is Hauntd by Ben Parker.
This was a very clever play which had a great concept behind it. Steve has recently hanged himself, only to discover that this means an eternity of hanging out in his dingy flat with the exuberant Barry, another former occupant. The dialogue between the ghosts is great, their very different characters made many audiences compare them to Jez and Mark from Peep Show, though although Barry is rather like a less self-absorbed version of Jez, I don't think Steve is muchlike Mark, he's just a bit depressed and overwelmed and would like some time to himself, a hint Barry, who has been alone for 15 years, is not picking up on. This relationship is great as the characters are very well drawn and I think this is what the Croydon Advertiser meant when she said in the review that this play could have been longer. An estate agent shows up to show two women the flat, but the women are actually ghost hunters and have bought along a ouiji board to try and communicate with Steve. Having the ghosts on stage talking about the other characters who can't see or hear them made this really funny.











Hammer Sandwich by Roberto Prestoni.
This play was set in an indoor market in Croydon where Frankenstein’s Monster is trying to sell sandwiches on the same patch as Dracula, The Mummy and a coven of witches. I loved all the local references in this play, the dialogue was snappy and the scooby-doo ending was great fun!