The Highgate Vampire | Cockpit Theatre

When you think of Vampire hunters, images of Van Helsing and dark, dank, Victorian streets quickly conjure in your mind. Yet in The Highgate Vampire, an unlikely duo, a priest and a tobacconist, go to war on the streets of 1970s London in this dark comedy. 

It is a play inspired by a story which caused a sensation in the 70s, surrounding supposed supernatural activity in London’s Highgate Cemetery. This story has been fictionalised by Bag of Beard Theatre Company, centring the narrative upon Daniel Farringdon (James Demaine), a tobacconist by day and investigator by night, and Bishop Patrick Sheffield (Alexander Knott). 

The pair find themselves delivering a lecture on ‘The Highgate Vampire’, and the metatheatre construct is a neat touch to immerse the audience straight into the ghoulish tales the pair gradually tell. Staggered over several flashbacks and ‘investigations’, the pair attempt to one-up each other with increasingly outlandish skits that poke gentle fun at the real-life hysteria of the event. It is a sensible approach to not take the story and its events too seriously, resulting in a fun, punchy piece of theatre which is far more harmless than the evil which seems to lurk among the characters. 

Knott’s uptight but foul-mouthed Bishop is exasperated by Demaine’s flamboyant Farringdon. Both are a lot of fun despite their contrasting characterisations. While both are hyperbolic, the Bishop’s stiff-lipped retorts are a neat contradiction to Farringdon’s hippie-styled psychic investigator. The pair multirole with success to help the other tell their respective tales, with short scenes littered with gags which are not too forced, though not all land, in a piece that largely organically flows over its 70-minute run. 

It does descend a little too much into back-and-forth bickering on occasion, but the pair quickly arrest any form of stagnation with quick quips, audience interactions and slapstick humour, which all land with success. This is supported by ‘Audrey the Technician’, Zöe Grain, who also produces the show, used sparingly but effectively as a tech stagehand, whose role as ensemble member and legitimate stage technician blends well to aid the play’s metatheatre. 

While The Highgate Vampire is not the most hysterical comedy you will find, it is full of heart and a clear passion for the source material. Both leads are well-developed and complement each other successfully, and it does merge comedy with genuine moments of suspense, too. 

Incredibly, the grave-digging stories in the play, of hysterical north Londoners bringing up corpses and stuffing the coffins with garlic, are true to life, though thankfully this production is not nearly as ghoulish as that. 

The Highgate Vampire may or may not be slain, but this comedy has some life in it yet. 

The Highgate Vampire plays at the Cockpit Theatre until 01st February 2026 - you can find tickets and more information here.

★★★☆☆ (3*)

Gifted tickets in return for an honest review | Photography by Charlie Flint