This ‘Psycho’-like play, although a bit grizzly only has the violence inferred. It is being presented by the very successful Dark Psychic Productions at the Phoenix Theatre, Hamilton Hill Memorial Hall at 435, Carrington Street in Hamilton Hill. The 90-minute performances are at 8.00 pm on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights until Friday 5^th June, with a 2.00 pm matinee on Sunday 31^st May and another on Saturday 6^th June.

Generously, the proceeds of the raffle and programme sales go to the Autism Association of WA.

On the stage is Walter’s apartment, part of a block of flats. It is scruffy and typical of a young man’s pied-à-terre (designed and built by Wayne Gale and Pat McMahon).

In front of the stage, on the floor of the auditorium, is a very well furnished, chic café with several gingham-clothed tables and a main serving counter. The abundance of first-rate props and original artworks were supplied by Emma Muller, Alison Kovacs and Ryan S McNally.

       Nervous and introverted Walter (Zachary Inglis, excellent) is a busboy – a catering worker who has all of the jobs too dirty for a waitress – working at the chic beatnik café, ‘The Yellow Door’. The café is managed by Leonard (Glenn Scott) and aided by his two capable waitresses, Carla (Maree Andersen) and Sylvia (Bethsaida Tapsall).

      Pacing around the coffee shop, wearing a yellow beret and reading from a book of his latest poetry is Maxwell (Daniel Rooney). In a dark corner is a suspicious character, Al (John Grey) who is whispering on the public ‘phone to his partner Lou (Adrian Archer). A couple of hippies, dreadlocked Will (Sean Drill) and his more refined friend, Buddy (Kane Anamwong) are smoking a joint and plotting their next crime.

       One day, on his way to work, Walter meets his landlady, the interfering and annoying Mrs Swickert (Devetta Ridgwell) who is looking for her lost cat.

      At the café, Walter asks Leonard if he can exhibit his artworks; within minutes, Mr Hughes, a local millionaire (Pat McMahon) enters with his gold-digging wife (Kate Lloyd), who immediately falls in love with Walter’s new masterpiece and must buy it. With the promise of an exhibition, the now famous Walter has attracted the attentions of both the voluptuous Alice (Kayti Murphy) and the local, influential art critic (Ryan S. McNally).

      Will Walter’s career bloom? For which work will he become most famous?

Following on their success with Mitch Brian’s horror/comedies, ‘Maul of the Dead’ and ‘Sorority House’, Dark Psychic Productions’ have chosen yet another of Brian’s creepy tales. The play has been described as a comedy noir, but I am not too sure about the term ‘comedy’. The experienced director, Shaun Griffin and his most capable assistant (directing for the first time) Alison Kovacs, have gathered their regular, skilled troupe of actors. This is a very unusual play, but the cast have bonded well, and created a chilling atmosphere. The acting was well up to standard, but some of the entrances and exits although well planned, were a little slow; however, I saw the final rehearsal and have full faith that this will correct itself.

From arriving at the theatre, it becomes very obvious that the ‘Yellow Door Café’ theme is being carried throughout the show. The colour scheme of rich canary yellow and black is carried through the entrance hall artworks, to the furniture, props and the many costumes. Ryan S McNally has created some wonderful costumes in the colours.

Assistant director, Alison, is also the stage manager for this large cast. Alex Coutts-Smith’s lighting design works very well, although at times a little less light could enhance the mood. His lighting is operated by Daniel Muller, with brother Brett Muller operating the sound.

This weird thriller will appeal to the Dark Psychic Productions fans, but with only a few shows you will have to get in quickly. PS don’t smile at Walter!

As vampires seem to be the in thing at the moment, this sanguinary, spooky show is being brought to you at the Phoenix Theatre, Memorial Hall, at the corner of Rockingham Road and Carrington Street, Hamilton Hill. The performance dates are Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays until the 7th September. All shows commence at 8.00 pm, with a Saturday matinee on the 7th at 2.00 pm.

All profits from programme sales, along with donations, will be given – quite appropriately – to ‘Haemophilia Foundation of WA’. I hope the donations will be as free flowing as the blood in this show.

The scene is the entrance hall of an old mansion in 1987 (set Brian Dennison and Wayne Gale).

A smartly dressed lady takes a seat in the sitting room of her newly acquired mansion, and her Igor-like manservants (Pat McMahon and Daniel Muller) look after her every need. She is the mysterious Mrs B. (Kathleen Uhlmann) who has purchased a house that has stood empty and decaying for some 60 years. As she welcomes us to her home, her private DJ, Maestro D (Sean Drill) plays sweet music.

Mrs B allows her niece, Janet (Kate Lloyd) to use the house as Delta Pi Sigma’s ‘sorority house’ – a club house for her elite student friends.

It is evening time, and in the street three students, ‘hot’ Deb (Jayde Clark), trendy Sissy (Leah Fitzgerald) and daggy virgin, Tonya (Jessica Lowes) are looking for the house where the freshers’ party is being held. They hear a noise, and there, in the distance is a chainsaw wielding maniac (Shaun Griffin). They hammer on the front door and are welcomed into safety by two of Mrs B’s enigmatic girls, powerful Brenda (Macauley Bremner) and the ‘thirsty’ Holly (Alesha Kays). They find that some other Hamilton College friends, Crystal, Shelley and Mackenzie (Nikayla Besgrove, Gabi Guidone and Kylie Griffin) have arrived selling cookies for the girl scouts. In the corner, they spot the class heartthrob Greg (Chris Northover) but as they approach him, he is whisked off to another room by the manipulative Holly.

When Mrs B calls in to the gathering, a quick point of her finger and students Lance (James Buckland), Jarrod (Kane Anamwong) and Riley (Rhiannon Peterson) are given the task of ‘entertaining’ the newcomers.

Can love overcome evil? The regular antidotes don’t seem to work on Mrs B !!

I don’t think that I have seen a straight vampire play before. This is a wonderful spoof on the Hammer horror films of the 80s, with all the gore and horrendous situations. This very black comedy got off to quite a slow start. It was the play’s opening night and initially the pace was well off and the voices mainly had poor projection but good enunciation. After about quarter of an hour the fairly inexperienced cast got into their stride and the show took off magnificently.

The direction by Ryan McNally and his assistant Emma Muller, was well thought out and the movement creepy. Near the end of the play, the playwright decided that he hadn’t made the ending gruesome enough and so did an ingenious and hilarious ‘rewind’, before starting again. This brought a huge applause from the audience.

The costumes were excellent, filled with the fluoros and colours of the hippy era. The lighting and sound played a major part in the atmosphere of the play, and Alex and Rebecca Coutts-Smith’s tech design excelled. The timing of the effects was critical and operator Brett Muller was on the ball. With a cast of almost two dozen, the stage managers Sheryl Gale and Jessica Byrum had their work cut out.

Fangs for the memory. A little silly, definitely tongue-in-cheek, but great fun. May your season flow well.